Record 1.7M migrants arrested at border in past year

A record number of 1.7 million migrants have been arrested at the southern border for fiscal 2021, according to new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data released Friday.

The CBP’s last highest record number of arrests along the southern border was in 2000 when the agency recorded 1,643,679 for fiscal 2000, according to agency data. The current fiscal 2021 numbers are a sharp comparison to last fiscal year’s numbers, which reported more than 400,000 arrests. 

Agency data shows that single adults were the highest number of people arrested for fiscal 2021 at roughly 1.1 million migrants — a figure drastically higher than in recent years. Single minors for fiscal 2021 were at roughly 147,000, which was also higher than the last three years. 

CBP data indicates that the number of migrants apprehended at the border is trending downward since the agency reported a high for fiscal 2021 of more than 213,000 arrests in July. In August, the agency saw more than 209,000 arrests, and data released on Friday indicated that there were 192,000 arrests at the border in September.

The agency noted that roughly 60 percent of those arrested in September were single adults.

CBP also said on Friday that it saw a 24 percent decrease in arrests for unaccompanied children last month.

“CBP encounters along the Southwest border declined in September from the prior month, and a majority of noncitizens encountered were expelled under Title 42,” CBP acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement, referring to a policy created under the Trump administration that allows the government to expel migrants and does not allow them the chance to apply for asylum.

“The men and women of CBP continued to rise admirably to the challenge, despite the strain associated with operating during a global pandemic that has claimed far too many lives among our frontline personnel,” Miller added.