Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 650,000 migrants during the first six months of the current fiscal year in the five Texas-based sectors. This is up from the record-shattering pace set last year when agents apprehended nearly 627,000 migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry.
During the first six months of Fiscal Year 2023, which began on October 1, 2022, agents assigned to the El Paso, Big Bend, Del Rio, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley Sectors apprehended 648,465 migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry, according to the March Southwest Land Border Encounters report. During the same period last year, agents apprehended 626,793 migrants. This year’s apprehensions represent an increase of nearly 3.5 percent over last year’s six-month total.
Groups of migrants totaling more than 1,000 crossed the border near El Paso in March. (U.S. Border Patrol/El Paso Sector)
The El Paso Sector reported the largest increase of migrant apprehensions of any of the nine southwest border sectors with the arrest of 265,037 migrants. This is up by 134 percent over the same period last year. This was the largest percentage and number increase of any sector in the nation.
The Del Rio Sector also reported a significant increase in the number of migrants apprehended. So far this fiscal year, agents arrested 217,849 migrants compared to 195,299 during the same period last year.
The Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and Big Bend Sectors all reported significant decreases in the number of migrants arrested.
The segmentation of the migrant apprehensions in the Texas-based border sectors breaks down as follows:
Breakdown by citizenship groups:
The numbers reported above do not include known migrant got-aways. These are migrants who are known to have crossed the border between ports of entry but who were not apprehended by Border Patrol agents.
During the first six months of this fiscal year, more than 223,000 migrants are classified as known got-aways, according to an unofficial Border Patrol report for the five Texas-based sectors reviewed by Breitbart Texas earlier this month. This is up from the more than 156,000 known got-aways in FY22 — an increase of approximately 43 percent.
This brings the total of known border crossers in the five Texas-based sectors for the first half of FY23 to nearly 872,000 migrants for the five Texas-based sectors. This compares to the city of Fort Worth which reports a population of just over 908,000 people.
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 contributed to this article. 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.