Border: Apprehensions are ticking up but remain below early May surge

Border: Apprehensions are up but remain below early May surge

Apprehensions at the southern border are up in recent weeks
The daily average is still well below the surge seen in early May
Encounters were down 15% in May compared to the year prior

Updated: Jul 3, 2023 / 12:00 PM CDT

USA Mexico Border Wall on the Texas Border

(NewsNation) — Migrant apprehensions along the southern border increased for the third consecutive week at the end of June, marking a return to the level seen directly after Title 42 expired in mid-May.

Last week, border authorities recorded 28,339 apprehensions, about 4,048 per day, according to U.S. Border Patrol.

That’s a 15% increase from the week prior but still considerably lower than the 10,000 daily apprehensions reported shortly before the end of Title 42.

It’s been nearly two months since the pandemic-era border rule expired and concerns about an overwhelming surge haven’t come to pass.

Some officials predicted arrests along the border would spike between 12,000 and 14,000 a day after the policy ended. Instead, daily apprehension numbers fell.

In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 204,561 encounters along the southern border — a 15% decrease compared to the same month in 2022.

“As a result of comprehensive planning and preparation efforts, there has been a significant reduction in encounters along the Southwest border since the return to full Title 8 immigration enforcement on May 12,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller said in the monthly operational update.

But multiple areas are still feeling the strain and many migrants continue to rely on a dangerous human smuggling network to evade U.S. authorities.

Since Title 42 expired, border officials have recorded 133,510 apprehensions, and 36,731 others are estimated to have “gotten away.”

Although the more than 200,000 encounters in May are down from the year prior, those numbers are still historically high. As recently as Jan. 2021, CBP recorded less than 80,000 encounters for the entire month.

Meanwhile, legislators on Capitol Hill continue to debate comprehensive immigration reforms.

Border policy will likely play a major role in the upcoming 2024 election, as candidates on both sides of the aisle lay out their plans.

Florida governor and GOP hopeful Ron DeSantis unveiled his “no excuses” border plan last week. Democratic challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed his approach during a NewsNation town hall last Wednesday, calling the situation a “dystopian nightmare.”

And last week, the White House revealed its plan to install new inspectio n technology along the border to help stem the flow of fentanyl into the country.