The number of times Border Patrol agents near Tucson encountered migrants rose in September for the first time since April, federal data show.
Border Patrol officials in the Tucson Sector reported about 17,760 encounters with migrants in September, up from 16,700 in August, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics released Friday.
As September wraps up the fiscal year, the number of times agents encountered migrants between ports of entry on the entire U.S.-Mexico border is far higher than in previous years at nearly 1.66 million. That is more than four times higher than in 2020 and nearly twice as high as in 2019.
Nearly 596,000 of the migrants that Border Patrol encountered on the southern border throughout the last year were traveling in a family with children or were unaccompanied minors.
From January to April this year, there was a sharp rise in the number of migrants that Border Patrol agents encountered in the agency’s Tucson Sector, crossing the border between ports of entry, which peaked at 20,300 in April.
In the Yuma Sector, the number of encounters has risen steadily for most of the year, with September being the highest at more than 22,400 encounters, up from about 17,200 in August.
Border Patrol officials along the entire U.S.-Mexico border reported about 185,500 encounters in September, which is down from 196,500 encounters in August, dropping for the second month in a row.
Customs officials at legal ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border reported about 6,500 encounters in September, which is far less than in August, July and June, when numbers were about twice that amount.
At ports of entry in Arizona, customs officials reported about 400 encounters, which is down from about 1,050 in August.
The term “encounter” refers to agents finding migrants crossing the border who are trying to evade detection as well as to asylum seekers who flag down agents.
The number of encounters is higher than the actual number of migrants crossing because of Title 42, a public-health order in response to the pandemic used by both the Trump and Biden administrations since March 2020. Under this order, the U.S. government quickly expels many migrants without processing them under immigration laws. As a result, the number of migrants who repeatedly cross the border is much higher now than prior to COVID-19.
More than 81% of the encounters during September in the Tucson Sector resulted in expulsions under Title 42. Only about 3,300 migrants were processed under immigration laws.
The bulk of the encounters in the Tucson Sector in September, about 16,300, involved citizens of Mexico or Guatemala, which has been the trend.
About 85% of migrants encountered in the Tucson Sector in September were adults not traveling with children, unlike the Yuma Sector where 61% of encounters involved families or unaccompanied children.
Most of the encounters in the Yuma Sector, about 20,500, led to migrants being processed under immigration laws, rather than expelled from the country under Title 42.
The part of the southern border that continues to have the highest number of encounters is the Rio Grande Valley Sector, along the Gulf of Mexico in south Texas, which saw 55,000 encounters in September, and 549,000 for the entire 2021 fiscal year.
