The apprehension of migrants by Border Patrol agents along the southwest border fell by about nine percent in May, according to a CBP source. The slight decline in apprehensions follows the Biden administration’s ending of the Title 42 COVID-19 migrant expulsion program.
Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 165,000 migrants who crossed the southwest border from Mexico between ports of entry, according to an unofficial Border Patrol report reviewed by Breitbart Texas. This is about a nine percent decrease from the more than 182,000 migrants in April.
The May apprehensions bring the total number of southwest border migrant apprehensions for Fiscal Year 23 to just over 1.4 million migrants. This is less than two percent behind the same period last year. By the end of FY22, agents apprehended a record-shattering 2.2 million migrants along the nine southwest border sectors.
In the days leading up to the end of Title 42, migrant apprehensions skyrocketed to a record-setting pace of more than 10,000 migrants per day, Breitbart Texas reported. At that time, Rio Grande Valley Sector apprehended approximately 3,000 per day.
By the end of the month, migrant apprehensions fell to a daily rate of about 3,400 per day, according to a tweet from retiring Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.
Due to the large daily apprehension rate during the first ten days of May, the Rio Grande Valley Sector remained as the busiest of the nine southwest border sectors. Agents in this sector apprehended more than 36,000 migrants in May.
This was followed by the Tucson Sector (30,000), Del Rio Sector (30,000), El Paso Sector (26,000), and San Diego Sector (23,000). These numbers are approximations based on the unofficial Border Patrol report reviewed by Breitbart.
In addition to the approximately 165,000 migrant apprehensions along the southwest border, nearly 51,000 migrants were classified as known got-aways. This brings the number of known migrant crossers to more than 216,000 migrants.
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 May 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.