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By Nick Mordowanec
Staff Writer
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Migrant encounters across U.S. borders have exceeded 988,900 the past three months, following a record-setting number in fiscal year 2023.
As part of the current fiscal year that began in October, there were 309,114 migrant encounters that month, 308,669 in November and 371,036 in December. In December, about 300,000 migrants—nearly 10,000 per day—came into the U.S. through Mexico, including about 250,000 between ports of entry, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Federal border agents encountered about 2.5 million migrants in total last year, surpassing the previous record high from the year before.
The steady flow resumes as members of Congress deliberate a 370-page, $118 billion southern border bill coming out of the Senate that some claim contains the most comprehensive immigration reform in four decades, including emergency powers for the federal government to deter migrants in large numbers, and changes in asylum laws in addition to tens of billions in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
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Detractors of the legislation include House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said the bill doesn't meet his conference's expectations, and GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. The nation's largest Hispanic organization has also criticized the bill, saying it is a rehash of previously introduced immigration that had no broad impact on issues like asylum.
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Southern border crossings
Southwest land border crossings totaled 785,422 between October and December, according to CBP data.
While numbers remained steady at about 241,000 and 242,000 migrant encounters in October and November, respectively, they shot up to about 302,000 in December.
In fiscal year 2021, southern border encounters increased every month between October and July. They ascended from about 71,000 in October to more than 213,000 by July, ultimately decreasing in August and even more so in September. The final total was about 1.734 million for the period.
Fiscal year 2022 was more of a mixed bag, with ebbs and flows in encounters hovering between 154,000 and 174,000 from October to February. In March of that year, numbers surpassed 200,000 and stayed above that number through the fiscal year that ended with about 2.378 million total encounters.
Fiscal year 2023 began with the same trend of encounters, surpassing 231,000 and hitting 252,000 by December, though numbers dipped and, like the previous fiscal year, ebbed and flowed, before ending with more than 269,000 encounters in September.
Northern border crossings
Migrant encounters through the United States' northern border have also increased in the past few years, including year-over-year between the 2021 and 2023 fiscal years—going from 27,180 in 2021 to 182,402 in 2023.
Northern crossings never exceeded 10,000 in a month until June 2022, which started a trend of encounters never falling below that number. Since July 2022, numbers have surpassed 13,000 encounters and hit nearly 20,000 in August 2023.
Texas border crossings
In December, part of the current 2024 fiscal year, there were 155,789 migrant encounters in Texas.
Between November and December, migrant encounters in the state increased by 39,122, according to CBP data. Numbers between October and November decreased by about 10,000.
The December encounters surpassed the previous fiscal year's total by about 1,000. But the difference is more glaring when compared with the 2022 and 2021 fiscal years, when 105,705 and 45,393 migrants, respectively, were detained at the Texas border.
Annual fiscal year numbers in Texas have risen from 1.115 million encounters in fiscal year 2021 to 1.399 million one year later. Fiscal year 2023 ended with about 9,000 fewer encounters than the previous fiscal year, including four months with totals below 100,000 encounters.
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