Illegal Southwest Border Crossings Surge to 158K in February

Migrant apprehensions in February jumped to nearly 160,000 after declining one month earlier.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced on Tuesday that Border Patrol agents apprehended 158,132 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry, according to CBP’s Southwest Land Border Encounters report. The apprehensions represent an increase over the previous year’s February report when agents apprehended only 97,643 migrants, the largest number of migrants apprehended in February since 2000.

So far this fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2021, Border Patrol agents apprehended 802,638 migrants along the nine southwest border sectors. This is up from 382,000 apprehended during the same period in FY21. This represents an increase of nearly 110 percent in year-to-date comparisons.

The February apprehensions included 121,296 single adults, 25,023 family units, and 11,810 unaccompanied minors, the report states.

The Rio Grande Valley Sector recaptured its position as the busiest sector in the nation with the apprehension of 33,838 migrants. These included 20,622 single adults (up 51 percent from last year), 7,483 Family Units (down nearly 31 percent from last year), and 5,743 Unaccompanied Minors (up 46 percent from last year), the report details.

The Del Rio Sector slipped back into second place with the arrest of 30,480 migrants in February. These arrests included 24,523 single adults (up 199 percent), 4,962 Family Units (up 117 percent), and 995 Unaccompanied Minors (up 67 percent).

Of the nine southwest border sectors, only the Big Bend Sector saw a decrease in February apprehensions. Only the Laredo Sector experienced a decrease in year-to-date apprehensions.

The Yuma Sector in Arizona experienced the largest percentage increase in February where the number jumped from only 5,128 migrants apprehended in February 2021 to 20,329 in February 2022 — an increase of nearly 300 percent. Year-to-date apprehensions in Yuma skyrocketed by nearly 1,122 percent (9,732 in the first five months of FY 2021 to 118,887 during the same period in FY2022). Family units make up the largest part of the increase where the apprehensions jumped by 1,717 percent.

Newly appointed CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus issued a statement on his agency’s February 2022 Operational Update. He said February “registered a slight uptick in the number of encounters along the Southwest border, with most individuals arriving from Mexico and the Northern Triangle, and the majority of noncitizens expelled under Title 42.”

Officials reported that 53,079 of the 158,132 migrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents in February came from countries other than Mexico and the Northern Triangle nations. Just over 89,000 migrants were expelled under the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.