An Update From The Capitol On Illegal Border Crossings

The Department of Homeland Security separates border encounters into three categories:

Apprehensions

Apprehensions are people temporarily detained by the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) for crossing the border illegally between ports of entry. They may or may not be arrested under Title 8 and can file for asylum.

'Inadmissibles'

‘Inadmissibles’ are people seeking legal admission at official ports of entry who are found ineligible by officers of the Office of Field Operations (OFO) under Title 8. This category also includes people seeking humanitarian protection and people who voluntarily withdraw their admission application; they can also file for asylum.

Expulsions

Expulsions are migrants denied exclusively through Title 42 to stop the spread of COVID-19. This status only applied from March 2020 to May 2023. USBP or OFO officers were empowered to expel people and return them to their home country or last non-U.S. location. These individuals were not given the opportunity to apply for asylum.

Between Oct. 2019 and June 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported just under 11 million border encounters nationwide. Monthly encounters peaked with over 370,000 people in Dec. 2023. Of those encounters, about 301,000 were along the Southwest border.

Since Dec. 2023, border encounters have steadily declined, down to about 94,000 in November (the most recent month for which CBP numbers are available).

Typically, just over half of the migrants encountered by authorities are single adults.