407K Migrants Apprehended in Texas-Based Border Sectors in 1st Quarter of New Fiscal Year

Border Patrol agents assigned to the five Texas-based border sectors apprehended nearly 407,000 migrants during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2023. This represents an increase of nearly 32 percent over the same period in FY22 and accounts for 64 percent of all migrant apprehensions so far this fiscal year.

Agents in the El Paso, Big Bend, Del Rio, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley Sectors apprehended 406,941 migrants during the first quarter of the new fiscal year, according to information obtained in the December Southwest Land Border Encounters Report released U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials after business hours Friday night. This represents 64 percent of the 633,451 migrants apprehended along the nine southwest border sectors in October, November, and December.

Apprehensions in the El Paso Sector accounted for 162,603 of the migrants apprehended in the five Texas-based border sectors. This represents an increase of approximately 755.4 percent over the same period in FY22. The El Paso Sector also includes the small border segment in New Mexico.

In December alone, agents in the El Paso Sector apprehended nearly 56,000 migrants. Border Patrol released nearly 37,000 of these migrants to NGO shelters and onto the city streets in El Paso. This prompted El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser to issue a disaster declaration.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded to the emergency declaration by sending 400 National Guard Soldiers to El Paso to deploy concertina wire and shipping containers to act as physical barriers at primary border crossing points.

After the deployment, the number of migrants in Border Patrol custody fell from approximately 5,600 in mid-December to about 500 by the end of the month, according to information obtained from the City of El Paso’s Migrant Crisis dashboard. The number of migrants released into El Paso fell from more than 10,000 in mid-December to 1,700 in the first week of January.

Del Rio Sector apprehensions accounted for 142,444 of the 406,941 migrants apprehended in the Texas-based sectors. This represented an increase of more than 55 percent over the record set the previous year when agents apprehended 91,699 in the same period.

Combined, the El Paso and Del Rio Sectors accounted for 305, 047 of the 406,941 Texas-based migrant apprehensions. This is up 116 percent over the same period in FY22.

The Big Bend, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley Sectors all experienced drops in migrant apprehensions ranging from 39-61 percent.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams visited El Paso where he received an extensive tour of the border and the impact of the migrant crisis on the border city.

“The city was overrun,” Mayor Adams said during a press conference. “It was unbelievable how we undermine the foundation of that city as they’re grappling, like many of us are, with real problems.” He called on the appointment of a national border czar.

“We should treat this the same way we treat any major disaster or major crisis that should be coordinated with the Border Patrol, coordinated with our cities, our states, to make sure that we as a country absorb this national issue, and that’s what I learned when I was on the ground there.”

In total, New York City has received approximately 26,000 migrants bused by Texas and the City of El Paso. The City El Paso received approximately 37,000 migrants released by the Biden administration — just in December. Nearly 140,000 migrants were apprehended in December in the Texas-based sectors.