McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The three Border Patrol sectors in South Texas saw huge drops in migrant encounters in Fiscal Year 2024 from Fiscal 2023, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Rio Grande Valley Sector, which includes McAllen and Brownsville, saw a decrease of 60 percent in migrants encountered between legal ports of entry in Fiscal Year 2024. The RGV Sector reported 135,099 migrant encounters from Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2024. That’s down from 338,337 encounters in Fiscal 2023, according to CBP year-end data released Tuesday.
The Del Rio Sector, which includes the border city of Eagle Pass, saw almost a 38% decrease in migrant encounters in Fiscal 2024 with over 244,000 encounters, down from 393,226 in Fiscal 2023.
And the Laredo Sector saw nearly a 32% decrease in Fiscal 2024 with 31,108 migrant encounters, down from 45,644 in Fiscal 2023, according to CBP data.
(CBP Graphic)
Overall, migrant encounters on the Southwest border were down 25% in Fiscal 2024 from 2023, and were the lowest since Fiscal 2020, CBP reports.
The Tucson, Arizona, sector led the nation with the most encounters and saw a 24% increase in Fiscal 2024 from Fiscal 2023. That was followed by the San Diego Sector, which incurred a 40% increase in Fiscal 2024 from Fiscal 2023. The El Paso Sector had the third-most encountered, followed by Del Rio, Rio Grande Valley.
In years past, the RGV Sector had led the nation in migrant encounters. But the trend started to shift West in the past two years. In Fiscal 2023, the RGV Sector had the third-most migrant encounters and Del Rio was second-busiest in a year when most migrant apprehensions occurred in the El Paso Sector.
The majority of migrants encountered in the RGV and Del Rio Sector in Fiscal 2024 were not from the typical migrating countries of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, but were listed as “other” and included thousands of Venezuelans who are brought across into South Texas by Mexican drug cartels.
A group of 10 migrants turned themselves into Border Patrol agents near Peñitas, Texas, on Oct. 10. There were several unaccompanied children in the group. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
The re-implementation of Title 8 asylum rules, as well as new rules requiring migrants to sign up for an asylum interview via the CBP One app at selected U.S. ports of entry, also affected the way asylum-seekers crossed the border in Fiscal 2024.
Of CBP’s four Office of Field Operations Sectors on the Southwest border, the Laredo Sector led the nation in Fiscal 2024 with migrant encounters with 282,300. The San Diego OFO CBP Sector had 183,890 encounters; El Paso had 91,241 and Tucson had 47,051.
Those numbers reflect the thousands of migrants who are waiting south of the border in Mexico for the CBP One app appointments and then encountering CBP officers at U.S. ports of entry when they come for asylum interviews.
In Fiscal 2024, there were 109,998 unaccompanied migrant children reported encountered by Border Patrol on the Southwest border. Of those, nearly a quarter, or over 25,000 were found by Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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