Border Apprehensions Drop to Lowest Level Since March

Apprehensions by Border Patrol agents of migrants who illegally cross the U.S. border with Mexico dropped nearly 29 percent in June, reaching the lowest level since March. The decrease follows seasonal patterns and increased immigration enforcement in Mexico following President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.

“Since the administration reached a new agreement with Mexico,” Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan said in a written statement, “we’ve seen a substantial increase in the number of interdictions on the Mexican southern border.

The apprehension of migrants illegally crossing the U.S. border from Mexico dropped from 132,880 in May to 94,897 in June. This represents a decrease of 28.6 percent, according to the Southwest Border Migration Report released on Wednesday afternoon by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The biggest drop in apprehensions came in the categories of family units and unaccompanied minors. The apprehension of these two categories fell from 95,890 in May to 64,767 in June — a 32.5 percent drop. Single adults also dropped from 36,900 to 30,130 — an 18.3 percent drop.

The Rio Grande Valley and El Paso Sectors continue to lead the other seven Border Patrol sectors in the apprehensions of family units and unaccompanied minors. The Yuma Sector paces a distant third.

“This year’s decline in apprehensions from May to June outpaces last year’s decline by 11 percent,” the acting DHS secretary explained. “The reduction in apprehensions accounts for decreases across all demographics, including unaccompanied minors, family units and single adults, as well as decreases in migrants from all Northern Triangle countries, particularly those coming from Guatemala.”

The decreased apprehensions will give the agency an opportunity to deal with capacity challenges DHS has been warning of for months.

“However, we are still in an ongoing border security and humanitarian crisis,” McAleenan stated. “U.S. Border Patrol made 688,375 apprehensions through the end of June, 140 percent higher than through this time last year. And our June apprehension numbers are still higher than last year’s, when we were already in a crisis.”

“We are past the breaking point and in a full-blown emergency,” the secretary concluded. “This situation should not be acceptable to any of us. In order for us to solve this crisis and to create lasting change at the border, we must address the vulnerabilities in our legal framework.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.