April 2019 Southern Border Stats Show Border Beyond ‘Breaking Point’

May 16, 2019

0 10 minutes read

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency charged with securing the nation’s borders and facilitating international travel and trade. Their top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States.

At the nation’s more than 300 ports of entry, CBP officers have a complex mission with broad law enforcement authorities tied to screening all foreign visitors, returning American citizens and imported cargo that enters the U.S.

Along the nation’s borders, the United States Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations are the uniformed law enforcement arms of CBP responsible for securing U.S. borders between ports of entry.

The following is a summary of CBP enforcement actions related to inadmissibles, apprehensions, arrests of individuals with criminal convictions, individuals who have been apprehended multiple times crossing the border illegally, currancy and drug seizures.

Visit CBP’s Southwest Border Migration page for demographic information regarding apprehensions and inadmissibles on the southwest border and the Use of Force page for use-of-force statistics and case summaries.

“We are taking aggressive action to mitigate the crisis, and protect vulnerable people in our custody by expanding medical care, creating temporary facilities, improving transportation, using additional resources from across DHS while seeking continued support from interagency partners throughout the Federal government,” said Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan while recently visiting McAllen Texas.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

BY SECTOR: Southwest Border Family Unit Subject, Unaccompanied Alien Children, and Single Adult Apprehensions Fiscal Year 2019 – By Month

FMUA: Family Unit Apprehensions

UAC: Unaccompanied Alien Children

SA: Single Adult

	FMUA	UAC	SA	TOTAL
Sector	FY 2019 APR	FY 2019 APR	FY 2019 APR	FY 2019 APR
Big Bend, Texas	224	61	656	941
Del Rio, Texas	3,440	397	2,013	5,850
El Centro	737	257	2,397	3,391
El Paso, Texas	20,428	2,464	3,975	26,867
Laredo, Texas	101	259	3,612	3,972
Rio Grande, Texas	22,889	3,753	10,039	36,681
San Diego, California	2,096	370	3,725	6,191
Tucson, Arizona	1,538	395	3,988	5,921
Yuma, Arizona	7,021	941	1,201	9,163
Southwest Border Total	58,474	8,897	31,606	98,977

Last modified: May 8, 2019

U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions FY 2019

USBP	Demographic	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	Total
Southwest Border	Unaccompanied Alien Child	4,968	5,259	4,754	5,107	6,821	8,973	8,897	44,779
	Family Units*	23,116	25,164	27,507	24,200	36,531	53,205	58,474	248,197
	Single Adult	22,924	21,433	18,487	18,684	23,531	30,653	31,606	167,318
Southwest Border Total Apprehensions		51,008	51,856	50,748	47,991	66,883	92,831	98,977	460,294

*Family Unit represents the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent, or legal guardian) apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol.

In April, 98,977 people were apprehended between ports of entry on the Southwest Border, compared with 92,831 in the month of March and 66,883 in February.

In FY18, a total of 396,579 individuals were apprehended between ports of entry on our Southwest Border.

Office of Field Operations Southwest Border Inadmissibles FY 2019

Field Operations	Demographic	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	Total
Southwest Border	Unaccompanied Alien Child	453	404	350	408	426	423	386	2,850
	Family Units*	4,178	4,986	4,382	4,211	4,210	4,196	3,443	29,606
	Single Adults	5,053	5,146	5,213	5,619	4,939	6,168	6,144	38,282
	Accompanied Minor Child**	86	70	81	71	76	101	194	679
Southwest Border Total Inadmissibles		9,770	10,606	10,026	10,309	9,651	10,888	10,167	71,417

*Family Unit represents the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent, or legal guardian) deemed inadmissible with a family member by the Office of Field Operations.

**Accompanied Minor Child represents a child accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and the parent or legal guardian is either a U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, or admissible alien, and the child is determined to be inadmissible.

In April, 10,167 people presenting themselves at ports of entry on the Southwest Border were deemed inadmissible, compared with 10,888 in the month of March and 9,651 in February.

In FY18, 124,511 people presenting themselves at ports of entry on the Southwest Border were deemed inadmissible.

OFO inadmissibility metrics include: individuals encountered at ports of entry who are seeking lawful admission into the United States but are determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe.

For breakdown by Field Office, visit Southwest Border Inadmissibles by Field Office.

Arrests of Individuals with Criminal Convictions
or Those Wanted by Law Enforcement

Numbers below reflect FY 2017-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

	FY17	FY18	FY19TD
OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS
Criminal Aliens³ Encountered	10,596	13,788	7,241
NCIC⁴ Arrests	7,656	5,889	1,195
U.S. BORDER PATROL
Criminal Aliens³ Encountered	8,531	6,698	2,932
Criminal Aliens with Outstanding Wants or Warrants	2,675	1,550	2,405

³Criminal Aliens refers to aliens who have been convicted of crime, whether in the United States or abroad, so long as the conviction is for conduct which is deemed criminal by the United States. Criminal aliens encountered at ports of entry are inadmissible, absent extenuating circumstances, and represent a subset of total OFO inadmissibles. U.S. Border Patrol arrests of criminal aliens are a subset of total apprehensions. See U.S. Border Patrol Criminal Alien Statistics for a breakdown of criminal alien stats by type of conviction.
⁴NCIC (National Crime Information Center) arrests refers to the number of CBP arrests of individuals, including U.S. citizens, who are wanted by other law enforcement agencies.

Currency Seizures

Numbers below reflect FY 2015-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

	FY15	FY16	FY17	FY18	FY19TD
Amount (USD)	$75,964,824	$62,101,328	$65,002,856	$64,741,939	$46,598,214

Monthly Office of Field Operations Currency Seizures

Numbers below reflect FY 2015-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

	FY 18	FY 19
October	$35,829	$4,190,389
November	$26,285	$4,3460,341
December	$2,822	$4,428,486
January	$203,213	$7,825,634
February	$117,933	$5,575,463
March	$157,669	$6,518,165
April	$17,913	13,699,736
May	$256,033
June	$31,494
July	$14,339
August	$169,592
September	$80,358
Total	$1,113,480	$46,598,214

U.S. Border Patrol Currency Seizures (October 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019)

	FY 15	FY 16	FY 17	FY 18	FY 19 TD
Amount (USD)	$4,741,288	$7,924,537	$5,869,004	$7,176,142	$2,288,504

Monthly U.S. Border Patrol Nationwide Checkpoint Currency Seizures

Numbers below reflect FY 2015-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

	FY 18	FY 19
October	$35,829	$49,247
November	$26,285	$51,269
December	$2,822	$63,697
January	$203,213	$59,857
February	$117,933	$103,982
March	$157,669	$110,924
April	$17,913	$15,016
May	$256,033
June	$31,494
July	$14,339
August	$169,592
September	$80,358
Total	$1,113,480	$453,992

For a breakdown by Sector, visit the USBP Currency Seizures by Sector webpage.

Drug Seizures

Numbers below reflect FY 2014-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

	FY 14	FY 15	FY 16	FY 17	FY 18	FY 19 TD
Cocaine	45,323	38,346	52,838	62,415	51,713	32,951
Heroin	4,356	6,023	4,224	3,398	5,205	2,708
Marijuana	438,146	602,821	516,122	366,627	300,289	138,610
Methamphetamine	19,613	25,495	33,086	46,247	56,362	32,814
Fentanyl	n/a	70	596	1,875	1,785	1,207

*weights are in pounds (lb)

Monthly Office of Field Operations Drug Seizures (October 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019)

	Cocaine	Heroin	Marijuana	Methamphetamine	Fentanyl	Other
October	3,165	469	8,808	3,756	133	26,379
November	4,143	334	29,828	3,691	11	23,100
December	6,733	321	24,474	3,486	44	8,398
January	2,407	273	11,324	4,405	336	13,173
February	9,218	320	21,636	5,509	120	18,328
March	5,872	493	25,506	6,057	244	7,981
April	1,413	499	17,035	5,910	221	14,796

*weights are in pounds (lb)

U.S. Border Patrol Drug Seizures (October 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019)

	FY 14	FY 15	FY 16	FY 17	FY 18	FY 19 TD
Cocaine	4,554	11,220	5,473	9,346	6,550	9,236
Heroin	606	518	566	953	568	385
Marijuana	1,922,545	1,538,307	1,294,052	861,231	461,030	171,082
Methamphetamine	3,930	6,443	8,224	10,328	11,314	6,183
Fentanyl	n/a	n/a	105	181	388	136

*weights are in pounds (lb)

Monthly U.S. Border Patrol Nationwide Checkpoint Drug Seizures
(October 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019)

	Cocaine	Heroin	Marijuana	Methamphetamine	Fentanyl	Other
October	121	1	1,546	600	0	4
November	48	15	1,180	473	15	5
December	140	5	2,460	258	0	422
January	259	3	2,802	542	16	5
February	197	44	3,929	646	20	52
March	87	2	2,197	337	1	13
April	368	134	1,758	349	19	4

*weights are in pounds (lb)

Gang Affiliated Enforcement

U.S. Border Patrol Nationwide Apprehensions by Gang Affiliation

Numbers below reflect FY2015-2018 totals, FY 2019 TD (to date) (October 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019)

Gang Affiliation	FY15	FY16	FY17	FY18	FY19TD
107th St	0	0	0	1	0
18th Street	84	47	61	145	97
Angelino Heights Sureno 13	0	0	1	0	0
Bandidos	0	4	0	0	0
Barrio Azteca	6	0	3	4	0
Border Brothers	0	0	0	1	1
Brown Pride	0	0	0	0	0
Chirizos	0	0	0	1	0
Folk Nation	0	1	0	0	0
Hard Times 13	0	1	0	0	0
Hells Angels	0	0	0	0	1
Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos (HPL)	2	18	3	2	1
Latin Kings	16	0	6	7	15
Locos Surenos Trece	0	1	0	1	0
Los Traviosos	0	0	0	0	1
Los Zetas	0	253	0	0	0
MS-13	335	0	228	413	267
Mara 18	0	0	0	1	1
Mara-R	0	0	1	1	0
Market Street	0	0	0	0	1
Maravilla Salva Trucha	0	1	0	2	0
Mexican Mafia	4	6	4	3	6
Mexicles	0	0	0	0	0
Mexikanemi	2	0	3	0	0
Nortenos	14	5	6	5	5
Other	154	136	90	82	64
Outlaws	0	0	0	0	0
Paisas	73	119	53	62	60
Partido Revolucionario Mexican (PRM)	0	0	0	0	1
Playboys	0	1	0	0	0
South Los Angeles	0	0	0	1	0
Surenos (sur-13)	140	90	66	66	51
Tango Blast	14	16	8	8	14
Texas Syndicate	0	3	1	1	2
Vallucos	0	0	0	0	1
Vilanos-13	0	0	0	1	0
West Park	0	0	1	0	0
Zetas	0	0	1	1	0
Total	844	702	536	808	589

U.S. Border Patrol Recidivism Rates

	FY 14	FY 15	FY 16	FY 17	FY 18
Recidivism⁵	14%	14%	12%	10%	11%

⁵Recidivism refers to percentage of individuals apprehended more than one time by the Border Patrol within a fiscal year.

Previous Year Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2018

Southwest Border Unaccompanied Alien
Children Inadmissibles by Fiscal Year

Numbers below reflect Fiscal Years 2017 – 2018 and 2019 TD

Unaccompanied Alien Children by Country
Country	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Salvador	1,721	833	99
Guatemala	2,829	3,691	560
Honduras	1,173	1,655	443
Mexico	1,556	2,210	1,550

Southwest Border Family Unit* Inadmissibles by Fiscal Year

Numbers below reflect Fiscal Years 2017 – 2018 and 2019 TD

Family Unit by Country
Country	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Salvador	4,577	3,738	1,131
Guatemala	6,789	12,185	3,833
Honduras	4,246	8,327	3,779
Mexico	10,628	21,411	13,847

*Family Unit represents the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent or legal guardian) deemed inadmissible with a family member by the Office of Field Operations.

Southwest Border Accompanied Minor Child* by Fiscal Year

Numbers below reflect Fiscal Years 2017 – 2018 and 2019 TD

Accompanied Minor Children by Country
Country	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Salvador	24	14	7
Guatemala	46	85	25
Honduras	34	58	45
Mexico	940	1,184	557

*Accompanied Minor Child represents a child accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and the parent or legal guardian is either a U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident or admissible alien, and the child is determined to be inadmissible.

Southwest Border Single Adult Inadmissibles by Fiscal Year

Numbers below reflect Fiscal Years 2017 – 2018 and 2019 TD

Single Adults by Country
Country	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Salvador	1,020	1,088	679
Guatemala	1,100	1,648	670
Honduras	917	1,719	1,514
Mexico	41,044	45,525	21,847

Cuban Inadmissibles

U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains a robust posture regarding the enforcement of our immigration laws along the nation’s borders and coastal areas.

*Effective January 12, 2017, the United States ended the special parole policy, also known as the “wet-foot/dry-foot” policy, for Cuban migrants that has been in place since the mid-1990s.

Since then, Cuban nationals who attempt to illegally enter the United States are subject to removal, consistent with our enforcement priorities.

These actions are part of the ongoing normalization of relations between the governments of the United States and Cuba, and reflect a commitment to have a broader immigration policy in which we treat people from different countries consistently.

Numbers below reflect totals for Fiscal Years 2014-2018, and 2019 TD

Cuban Inadmissibles
Field Office	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Paso	415	685	5,018	340	394	4,737
Laredo	15,333	26,181	34,658	14,275	6,533	5,835
San Diego	1,229	1,555	1,589	600	131	188
Tucson	132	221	258	168	21	150
Southwest Border Totals	17,109	28,642	41,523	15,383	7,079	10,910

Haitian Inadmissibles

Numbers below reflect totals for Fiscal Years 2014-2018, and 2019 TD

Haitian Inadmissibles
Field Office	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 19TD APR
El Paso	1	0	2	18	0	0
Laredo	6	1	6	160	2	1
San Diego	477	333	6,377	8,057	294	664
Tucson	0	0	39	960	1	0
Southwest Border Totals	484	334	6,424	9,195	297	665

Southwest Border Inadmissibles Fiscal Year 2019 – By Month

FMUA: Family Unit Inadmissible

UAC: Unaccompanied Alien Children

AMC: Accompanied Minor Child

SA: Single Adult

	FMUA	UAC	AMC	SA	TOTAL
Field Offices	FY 2019 OCT	FY 2019 OCT	FY 2019 OCT	FY 2019 OCT	FY 2019 OCT
El Paso	835	84	4	580	1,503
Laredo	1,179	71	67	2,370	3,687
San Diego	1,303	180	5	1,645	3,133
Tucson	861	118	10	458	1,447
Total	4,178	453	86	5,053	9,770