WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan, during a press conference today at the White House, announced border enforcement actions for the month of September and discussed preliminary fiscal year border enforcement actions.
CBP enforcement actions decreased for a fourth straight month and represent a 64% decrease since the peak in May.
“I want to recognize the outstanding work of the men and women of CBP who are working on the frontline of this border security and humanitarian crisis, as well as our foreign partners who are actively engaged in addressing this regional crisis as well,” said Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan. “Thanks to the efforts of this Administration, illegal migration declined again for the fourth month in September. While this is good news, we remain focused on this ongoing crisis and are calling on Congress to take action to avoid the exploitation of families and children caught up in a transnational criminal enterprise and address the national security crisis.”
In Fiscal Year 2019, CBP encountered 977,509 people attempting to cross our Southwest border, which is 72% higher than fiscal year 2014. Since the expansion of the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) and the Administration’s agreements with Central American governments, monthly enforcement actions have dropped an average of 22% per month.
For the month of September, total CBP encounters (Border Patrol apprehensions and Field Operations inadmissible cases) along the Southwest border were 52,546. These enforcement actions show a decrease across all key demographics (such as unaccompanied children), although single adults represent the smallest decrease. While this is a decrease from August numbers, it remains higher than during the same time period of six of the last seven previous years.
CBP’s dedicated Border Patrol agents rescued 4,911 in FY 2019, which highlights the dangers migrants face when crossing the border illegally.