The number of border encounters near Tucson dropped again in July

The Border Patrol’s number of July encounters with migrants in the Tucson Sector was the lowest monthly total since February, federal data released Friday shows.

Agents reported 17,977 encounters in the sector, down from 18,404 in June, 19,909 in May, 20,283 in April and 19,871 in March. There were 14,751 encounters reported in February.

Most of the encounters in the Tucson Sector last month, more than 14,000, involved adult migrants from Mexico and Guatemala. The July numbers included 2,000 unaccompanied minors in the sector.

Along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, Customs and Border Protection officials reported 199,777 encounters in July, up from 178,549 in June.

The busiest area for migration remains the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector on the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. Officials there reported 80,306 encounters in July.

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The Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector reported 14,780 encounters for the month, up from 12,410 in June.

Border encounters refer to migrants apprehended while trying to cross the border clandestinely, along with those who flag down officials to ask for asylum.

The majority of the encounters in July — 14,020 in the Tucson Sector — led to quick expulsions to Mexico under Title 42, a public-health order the Trump administration started using when the pandemic began.

The order allows officials to expel migrants within hours of encountering them, rather than process them under immigration laws.

Data for August likely will be released in the first or second week of September.