A source within Customs and Border Protection notes the Border Patrol is off to a record start for Fiscal Year 2022 compared to last October. The source says Border Patrol has apprehended more than 90,000 migrants in the first 18 days of the reporting year–exceeding the 69,049 apprehended in the entire month of October 2020.
In the Yuma Sector, the source says more than 12,000 migrants were encountered in 18 days. In all of October 2020, only 788 were apprehended within that sector, a more than 1,400 percent increase.
The jump in statistics is being felt in other areas of the southwest border as well. In the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest sector for the Border Patrol, the source reports more than 26,000 were apprehended during the first weeks of FY2022. Many choose to surrender, hoping for a quick release due to the overwhelming flow of migrants to detention centers.
The number of apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley in 18 days is nearly 50 percent higher than all of October 2020. During the entire month of October 2020, 17,619 were apprehended in that sector.
On average, more than 5,000 migrants are encountered daily nationwide. More than half are single adults. Family units comprise the next largest demographic, according to the source.
The Yuma Border Patrol Sector is showing the most significant increase in apprehensions and migrant releases into the United States. As reported by Breitbart Texas, of the more than 12,000 apprehended in Yuma since October 1, a federal source says less than 600 were swiftly expelled to Mexico under the CDC Title 42 COVID-19 emergency order.
More than 11,000 migrants apprehended in Yuma were processed under traditional legal pathways allowing the migrant family units and unaccompanied migrants to pursue asylum. The source says most are released into the United States as they await the adjudication process.
Fiscal Year 2021, which ended in September, was the busiest on record for apprehensions made within the nine southwest Border Patrol sectors. The official tally for those apprehensions has yet to be released by Customs and Border Protection but unofficial statistics provided to Breitbart Texas by a highly placed DHS source show agents and CBP officers encountered nearly 1.96 million nationwide.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.