Migrant Arrests at Southwest Border Jump 700 Percent over May 2020

Migrant arrests and apprehensions by Border Patrol in May jumped nearly 700 percent over the same month in 2020. Agents apprehended more than 172,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico boundary, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials report.

CBP officials released the May Southwest Border Land Encounters report late Wednesday evening. The report reveals that Border Patrol agents arrested or apprehended 172,011 migrants after they illegally entered the U.S. This is up from only 21,593 during the same month one year ago — an increase of 697 percent, officials stated.

During Fiscal Year 2021, which began on October 1, 2020, Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 897,213 migrants. This is up from only 229,225 for the same period last year — a 291 percent increase. These apprehensions include 636,892 single adults, 78,513 migrant families, and 181,808 unaccompanied minors.

Border Patrol sectors in Texas bore the brunt of illegal migrant apprehensions. The five Texas-based sectors account for more than 118,000 of the 172,000 apprehensions.

The largest increase took place in the Del Rio Sector, where Texas Governor Greg Abbott will host a summit Thursday afternoon. Del Rio Sector agents apprehended 27,890 migrants — a 1,118 percent increase over the May 2020 report of 2,289.

Policies put in place by then-President Donald Trump reduced the illegal crossings of migrant families and unaccompanied minors by nearly 95 percent in 2020. The Biden Administration reversed many of those policies and migrant families and unaccompanied minors returned to the border in massive numbers.

The apprehension of migrant families along the southwest border in May jumped from 966 in 2020 to 13,906 this year. This represents an increase of 1,340 percent.

The apprehension of unaccompanied minors, many of whom are simply being abandoned after being placed across the border, jumped by more than 4,000 percent. Agents apprehended only 979 unaccompanied minors in May 2020. This jumped to 40,078 in May 2021, officials reported. Of those, nearly 21,000 crossed into the Rio Grande Valley Sector in South Texas.