Two-Thirds of January Migrant Apprehensions Occurred in Texas Sectors

Nearly two-thirds of more than 75,000 migrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents in January took place in the five sectors headquartered in Texas. Nearly one-fourth took place in the Rio Grande Valley Sector alone.

Border Patrol agents arrested 75,198 migrants who illegally crossed the Mexican border into the U.S. between ports of entry in January, according to the January Southwest Border Migration Report released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Wednesday night. This is up from 29,205 the year before. The apprehensions mark the highest January total since 2006 when agents took more than 101,000 migrants into custody, Breitbart Texas reported.

The Texas border sectors that include the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Big Bend, and El Paso Sectors accounted for nearly two-thirds of those apprehensions. Agents in these five border sectors accounted for 50,044 of the 75,198 migrants arrested in January, the CBP report indicates.

The Rio Grande Valley Sector led the nation with 17,056 apprehensions. This represents 23 percent of all arrests along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico. This is followed by 11,073 in the Del Rio Sector; 10,165 in the El Paso Sector; 8,631 in the Laredo Sector, and 2,669 in the Big Bend Sector.

Nearly 2,000 of the 17,056 January apprehensions were classified as Unaccompanied Alien Children. This number jumped dramatically from December when agents arrested 1,485 UACs, and up from 1,360 in December.

The largest number of unaccompanied migrants are now coming to the U.S. from Mexico — 7,340 so far this fiscal year. This is followed by Guatemala (6,161), Honduras (3,504), and El Salvador (1,418).

Total migrant apprehensions in January increased for the ninth straight month, officials reported. The low point came in April 2020 when total apprehensions fell to 17,104.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.