The short-term decrease in migrant apprehensions that followed the new Biden administration immigration policy changes came to an abrupt ending in March when agents apprehended more than 161,000 migrants along the southwest border with Mexico. The nearly 25 percent jump in March follows two months where agents averaged just under 129,000 migrant apprehensions.
Following an FY23 peak of 221,693 migrant apprehensions along the southwest border in December, the Biden administration announced plans to allow the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol to be applied to certain nationalities, apprehensions fell in January to 128,913 in January. February marked the second month of decline in the number of apprehensions as agents took 128,877 into custody.
The decreased apprehensions came to an abrupt ending in March when unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas revealed the number jumped to slightly more than 161,000. The return of large migrant group crossings returned to the Arizona and Texas borders in March.
On March 30, more than 1,000 migrants crossed the border from Mexico near El Paso, Texas. While the migrants crossed in smaller groups, the numbers quickly rose to more than 1,000. This required Border Patrol officials to surge additional agents into the area to process the migrants in a timely and orderly manner.
El Paso Sector agents apprehended 38,000 migrants in March — up 50 percent from the same month in 2022, the report revealed. It is also up from February when agents apprehended just over 32,000 migrants.
The Tucson Sector also closed out March with large migrant group apprehensions, Breitbart Texas reported. The large group of more than 200 migrants was taken into custody by Ajo Station agents on March 30. The large group was one of several groups of migrants who crossed the border in the area.
Tucson Sector agents apprehended more than 33,000 migrants in March — up 25 percent from the same month in 2022, the report revealed. It is also up from February when agents apprehended just over nearly 24,000 migrants.
Breitbart Texas reported on March 21, that migrant apprehensions topped 1 million before the end of the first six months of the fiscal year. By the end of March, the six-month total reached more than 1,060,000 migrant apprehensions nationwide.
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 What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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.
Editor’s Note: All numbers reported above for March 2023 apprehensions come from an unofficial Border Patrol report obtained by Breitbart Texas. These numbers are subject to change when CBP releases the official Southwest Land Border Encounters Report later this month.