Statistics Show Lowest Southwest Border Encounters in More than Three Years
WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released operational statistics today for June 2024, which show a significant decline in migrant encounters following a Presidential Proclamation announced June 4, 2024, by President Biden to temporarily suspend the entry of certain noncitizens across the southern border. Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry were 29% lower than in May 2024 and were the lowest monthly total for the Border Patrol along the southwest border since January 2021 as well as lower than the number of encounters between ports of entry in June 2019, the last comparable year prior to the pandemic. CBP monthly reporting can be viewed on CBP’s Stats and Summaries webpage.
“Recent border security measures have made a meaningful impact on our ability to impose consequences for those crossing unlawfully, leading to a decline of 29% in U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions from May to June, with a more than 50% drop in the seven day average from the announcement to the end of the month, and doubling the rate at which we removed noncitizens from U.S. Border Patrol custody in June,” said Troy A. Miller, CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner. “We are continuing to work with international partners to go after transnational criminal organizations that traffic in chaos and prioritize profit over human lives.”
On June 4, 2024, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General also jointly issued an interim final rule (IFR) that, consistent with the Presidential Proclamation, generally restricts asylum eligibility for those who irregularly enter across the southwest land and the southern coastal border. The number of encounters at our Southwest Border have decreased by more than 50% in the past six weeks. The Border Patrol’s seven-day average has decreased to below 1,900 encounters per day.
Since the Presidential Proclamation and Interim Final Rule went into effect on June 5, DHS has removed or returned more than 70,000 individuals to more than 170 countries, including by operating more than 150 international repatriation flights.* Total removals and returns over the past year exceed removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010 and a majority of all southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return, or expulsion.
Below are key operational statistics for CBP’s primary mission areas in June 2024. View all CBP statistics online.
Ensuring Border Security and Managing Migration
CBP, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), continues to expeditiously process, remove, and strengthen consequences for individuals who cross our borders irregularly. Individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. are subject to removal pursuant to Title 8 authorities and are subject to a minimum five-year bar on admission as well as potential prosecution if they subsequently re-enter without authorization. No one should believe the lies of smugglers. The fact remains: the United States continues to enforce immigration law, and those without a legal basis to remain will be removed. Migrants attempting to enter without authorization are subject to removal under Title 8 authorities.
In June – the first month in which the Presidential Proclamation and IFR have been in effect – the U.S. Border Patrol recorded 83,536 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border. These Border Patrol encounters were 29% lower than in May 2024 and were the lowest monthly total for the Border Patrol along the southwest border since January 2021. Total southwest border irregular encounters in June, including individuals who presented at ports of entry without a CBP One appointment, were 88,612, a 30% decrease from May 2024. This is CBP’s lowest monthly southwest border encounter total since January 2021. From May to June, the total number of individuals encountered along the southwest border between ports of entry and at ports of entry without a CBP appointment decreased across all demographics: encounters of unaccompanied children decreased 14%, single adult encounters decreased 28%, and family unit individual encounters decreased by 36%.
The number of unaccompanied children encountered by CBP along the southwest border in June 2024, including individuals who presented at ports of entry without a CBP One appointment, decreased 14% compared to May 2024, decreased 28% compared to May for single adults, and decreased 36% for family unit individuals.
The United States is working together with our domestic and foreign partners to jointly disrupt irregular migration across our borders and monitor emerging threats, including public safety concerns posed by transnational criminal organizations. We continue to conduct thorough screening and vetting for all individuals that we encounter on the southern border to identify anyone affiliated with these organizations. For example, DHS has implemented enhanced screening measures at the border to identify gang members who are detained for criminal prosecution or placement in Expedited Removal.
CBP continues to offer safe, orderly, and lawful pathways for intending migrants and, with our international partners, we are taking actions against ruthless smugglers who continue to spread falsehoods and show disregard for the safety and well-being of vulnerable migrants. Our message for anyone who is thinking of entering the United States unlawfully along the southern border is simple: don’t do it. When migrants cross the border unlawfully, they put their lives in peril. The terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border in many areas are often deadly. People who made the dangerous journey into this territory have died of dehydration, starvation, and heat stroke. Smuggling organizations abandon migrants in remote and dangerous areas.
The U.S. Border Patrol has undertaken significant efforts in recent years to expand capacity to aid and rescue individuals in distress. To prevent the loss of life, CBP initiated a Missing Migrant Program in 2017 that locates noncitizens reported missing, rescues individuals in distress, and reunifies decedents’ remains with their families in the border region. In June, the U.S. Border Patrol conducted 461 rescues, bringing the FY 2024 total to 4,068 rescues.
View more migration statistics and rescues statistics.
CBP One™ App
The CBP One™ mobile application is a key scheduling tool and part of DHS’s efforts to incentivize noncitizens to use lawful, safe, humane, and orderly pathways and processes. Noncitizens who cross between the ports of entry or who present themselves at a port of entry without making a CBP One™ appointment are generally subject to the interim final rule that, consistent with the Presidential Proclamation, restricts asylum eligibility for those who irregularly enter across the southwest land and the southern coastal borders. DHS encourages migrants to utilize lawful processes, rather than taking the dangerous journey to cross unlawfully between the ports of entry, which also carries significant consequences under the United States immigration laws.
Use of the CBP One™ app to schedule appointments at ports of entry has increased CBP’s capacity to process migrants in a more efficient and orderly manner while cutting out unscrupulous smugglers who endanger and profit from vulnerable migrants. The suspension and limitation on entry and interim final rule does not apply to noncitizens who use the CBP OneTM mobile app to enter the United States at a port of entry in a safe and orderly manner to avail themselves to lawful processes.
In June, CBP processed over 41,800 individuals through appointments at ports of entry utilizing advanced information submitted through CBP One™. Since the appointment scheduling function in CBP One™ was introduced in January 2023 through the end of June 2024, more than 680,500 individuals have successfully scheduled appointments to present at ports of entry instead of risking their lives in the hands of smugglers. The top nationalities processed subsequent to arrival for their appointment are Venezuelan, Cuban, and Haitian.
A percentage of daily available appointments are allocated to the earliest registered CBP One™ profiles, so noncitizens who have been trying to obtain appointments for the longest time are prioritized. CBP is continually monitoring and evaluating the application to ensure its functionality and guard against bad actors.
CHNV Parole Processes
On January 5, 2023, DHS announced processes providing certain Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans who have a supporter in the United States, undergo and clear robust security vetting and meet other eligibility criteria authorization to travel to the United States in a safe, orderly, and lawful way once they purchase their own commercial airline tickets. These processes were built on the success of the process for Venezuelans established in October 2022; they are publicly available online, and DHS has been providing regular updates on their use to the public. This is part of the Administration’s strategy to combine expanded lawful pathways with stronger consequences to reduce irregular migration. These processes have kept hundreds of thousands of people from migrating irregularly, often at the hands of smuggling networks.
Through the end of June 2024, about 494,799 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans arrived lawfully on commercial flights and were granted parole under these processes. Specifically, 106,757 Cubans, 205,026 Haitians, 93,325 Nicaraguans, and 118,706 Venezuelans were vetted and authorized for travel; and 104,130 Cubans, 194,027 Haitians, 86,101 Nicaraguans, and 110,541 Venezuelans arrived lawfully and were granted parole.
Safeguarding Communities by Interdicting Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
As the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, CBP is uniquely positioned to detect, identify, and seize illicit drugs before they enter our communities. CBP’s combination of interdiction and intelligence capabilities, complemented by its border search authorities, scientific services, non-intrusive inspection equipment, and canine detection teams, places it at the forefront of the U.S. government’s efforts to combat illicit fentanyl and other dangerous drugs.
Earlier this year, CBP announced an expanded, multi-agency effort to target transnational criminals funneling fentanyl from Mexico into American communities. Operation Plaza Spike targets the cartels that facilitate the flow of deadly fentanyl, as well as its analogs, precursors, and tools to make the drugs. The operation is designed to disrupt operations in the “plazas,” cartel territories located directly south of the United States that are natural logistical chokepoints within the cartels’ operations. This is the next phase in CBP’s Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Drugs, a whole-of-government and international effort to anticipate, identify, mitigate, and disrupt illicit synthetic drug producers, suppliers, and traffickers.
That strategy also includes conducting operations, including Operation Apollo, that target the smuggling of illicit fentanyl and other dangerous drugs. First implemented in southern California in October 2023, and recently expanded into Arizona, Operation Apollo utilizes local field assets augmented by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to target drug traffickers’ supply chains in select locations based on ongoing investigations, intelligence collection, and drug seizure data. Operation Apollo targets items required in the production of illicit fentanyl, including precursor chemicals, pill presses and parts, movement of finished product, and illicit proceeds.
Nationwide in June, seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana combined by weight decreased by 17% compared to May. In June, nationwide heroin seizures increased by 47% compared with May, and seizures of cocaine increased by 13%. To date in FY 2024 through the end of June, CBP has seized over 15,000 pounds of fentanyl. CBP has caught more fentanyl nationwide between the start of fiscal year 2023 through June 30, 2024, than in the previous eight fiscal years combined, and we continue to optimize our intelligence and field operations to stop these deadly substances from reaching American communities.
Additional CBP drug seizure statistics can be found on the Drug Seizure Statistics webpage.
Facilitating Lawful Trade and Travel
As international travel continues to increase, CBP is leveraging technology to streamline efficiency and increase security at air and land ports of entry. Travelers are encouraged to utilize CBP’s mobile apps to enhance their travel experience, including the Global Entry Mobile Application and Mobile Passport Control, as well as new Global Entry Touchless Portals at nearly all international airports across the United States, which protect passenger privacy and expedite arrival processing by eliminating paper receipts.
Travelers arriving by air into the United States increased 11% from June 2023 to June 2024; pedestrians arriving by land at ports of entry increased 4% over the same period; passenger vehicles processed at ports of entry increased 2.5%; and commercial trucks processed at ports of entry decreased 4.4%.
CBP works diligently with the trade community and port operators to ensure that merchandise is cleared as efficiently as possible and to strengthen international supply chains and improve border security. In June 2024, CBP processed more than 2.8 million entry summaries valued at more than $272.1 billion, identifying estimated duties of nearly $6.7 billion to be collected by the U.S. government. In June, trade via the ocean environment accounted for 42.2% of the total import value, followed by air, truck, and rail.
View more travel statistics, and trade statistics.
Protecting Consumers, Eradicating Forced Labor from Supply Chains, and Promoting Economic Security
CBP continues to lead U.S. government efforts to eliminate goods from the supply chain made with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. In June, CBP stopped 291 shipments valued at more than $39 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor.
Intellectual property rights violations continue to put America’s innovation economy at risk. Counterfeit and pirated goods threaten the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, the livelihoods of American workers, and the health and safety of consumers.
Consumers are encouraged to be alert to the dangers of counterfeit goods especially when shopping online as they support criminal activity, hurt American businesses, and often have materials or ingredients that can pose serious health and safety risks. Every year CBP seizes millions of counterfeit products worth billions of dollars had they been genuine. In June, CBP seized 1,501 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $395 million. More information about CBP’s intellectual property rights enforcement is available at https://www.cbp.gov/trade.
CBP completed 19 audits in June that identified $9 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government, stemming from goods that had been improperly declared in accordance with U.S. trade laws and customs regulations. CBP collected over $2.3 million of this identified revenue and from previous fiscal years’ assignments.
CBP is on the frontline of textiles and trade agreements enforcement, combating textile imports that are not compliant with U.S. trade laws. Protecting the domestic textile industry and American consumers is vital to U.S. national security, health care, and economic priorities. Toward this end, CBP is intensifying its targeting and enforcement efforts to increase and expedite the prosecution of illegal customs practices. CBP’s efforts include de minimis compliance, forced labor enforcement, cargo compliance, regulatory audits, and public awareness. In April, DHS announced an enhanced strategy to combat illicit trade and level the playing field for the American textile industry, which accounts for over 500,000 U.S. jobs and is critical for our national security. The plan details the actions CBP and Homeland Security Investigations will take to hold perpetrators accountable for customs violations and safeguard the American textile industry.
View more UFLPA enforcement statistics, and intellectual property rights enforcement statistics.
Defending our Nation’s Agricultural System
Through targeting, detection, and interception, CBP agriculture specialists work to prevent threats from entering the United States.
CBP issued 6,818 emergency action notifications for restricted and prohibited plant and animal products entering the United States in June 2024. CBP conducted 106,495 positive passenger inspections and issued 702 civil penalties and/or violations to the traveling public for failing to declare prohibited agriculture items.
View more agricultural enforcement statistics.
*This includes removals and returns from the southwest border, northern border, and interior ports of entry.