SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — San Diego Sector was one of only three along the entire southern border to show an increase in migrant-agent encounters between ports of entry for the fiscal year 2023, according to statistics just released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The fiscal year ended on Sept. 30.
Tucson and El Paso were the other two sectors to show a rise in figures: Tucson went from 251,984 in 2022 to 373,625 in 2023, up 48 percent; El Paso from 307,844 in 2022 to 427,471 in 2023, up 39 percent.
For the Border Patrol alone, there were 2,045,838 encounters throughout the southern border for 2023 down from 2,206,436 in 2022.
San Diego alone recorded a 31 percent increase in migrant encounters with 230,941.
In fiscal year 2022, the figure was 176, 290.
In recent weeks, agents in the San Diego Sector have seen more and more migrants throughout their area of responsibility, particularly in the section along the ocean where a border wall project is underway, and in the mountains near the community of Jacumba, California.
While there are no exact numbers for these specific areas, for the month of September throughout the sector, there were 26,609 encounters with migrants, up almost 8,000 from the previous month.
Recently, Border Patrol spokesman Agent Gerardo Gutierrez said they had not been this busy in the San Diego Sector in 20 years.
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