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. Our 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 and individuals who have been apprehended multiple times crossing the border illegally.
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.
Total CBP Enforcement Actions
Numbers below reflect FY2015 - FY2017 totals.
| FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS (OFO) | |||
| Total Inadmissibles1 | 255,342 | 274,821 | 216,370 |
| U.S. BORDER PATROL | |||
| Total Apprehensions2 | 337,117 | 415,816 | 310,531 |
| Total Enforcement Actions | 592,459 | 690,637 | 526,901 |
1 Inadmissibles refers to 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.
2 Apprehensions refers to the physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest.
Arrests of Individuals with Criminal Convictions or Those Wanted by Law Enforcement
Numbers below reflect FY2015 - 2017 totals.
| FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS | |||
| Criminal Aliens3 Encountered | 13,362 | 14,090 | 11,600 |
| NCIC4 Arrests | 8,119 | 8,129 | 7,654 |
| U.S. BORDER PATROL | |||
| Criminal Aliens3 Encountered | 19,117 | 12,842 | 8,531 |
| Criminal Aliens with Outstanding Wants or Warrants | 3,752 | 3,697 | 2,675 |
3 Criminal 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.
4 NCIC (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.
Office of Field Operations Drug Seizures FY12 - FY17 Totals
| Drug | FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocaine | 45,260 | 39,075 | 41,312 | 38,145 | 52,803 | 62,331 |
| Heroin | 3,780 | 3,990 | 4,314 | 5,530 | 4,223 | 3,924 |
| Marijuana | 522,614 | 469,995 | 437,950 | 602,795 | 515,382 | 361,563 |
| Methamphetamine | 14,131 | 20,739 | 23,234 | 29,001 | 37,704 | 50,568 |
| Fentanyl | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 440 | 1,195 |
*weights are in pounds(lb)
U.S. Border Patrol Drug Seizures FY12 - FY17 Totals
| Drug | FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocaine | 12,161 | 4,696 | 4,554 | 11,220 | 5,473 | 9,346 |
| Heroin | 430 | 576 | 606 | 518 | 566 | 952 |
| Marijuana | 2,299,864 | 2,430,123 | 1,922,545 | 1,538,307 | 1,294,052 | 861,230 |
| Methamphetamine | 3,715 | 3,580 | 3,930 | 6,443 | 8,224 | 10,328 |
| Fentanyl | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 180 |
*weights are in pounds(lb)
USBP Nationwide Apprehensions by Gang Affiliation
FY2014 - FY2017 Totals
| Gang Affiliation | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18th Street | 96 | 84 | 47 | 61 |
| Angelino Heights Sureno 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bandidos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Barrio Azteca | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Border Brothers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brown Pride | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Folk Nation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hard Times 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Hells Angels | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos (HPL) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Latin Kings | 17 | 16 | 18 | 6 |
| Los Zetas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MS-13 | 437 | 335 | 253 | 228 |
| Mara-R | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Maravilla Salva Trucha | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mexican Mafia | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| Mexicles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mexikanemi | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Nortenos | 13 | 14 | 5 | 6 |
| Other | 183 | 154 | 136 | 90 |
| Outlaws | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paisas | 86 | 73 | 119 | 53 |
| Partido Revolucionario Mexican (PRM) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Playboys | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| South Los | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Surenos (sur-13) | 160 | 140 | 90 | 66 |
| Tango Blast | 18 | 14 | 16 | 8 |
| Texas Syndicate | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| West Park | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zetas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 1034 | 844 | 702 | 536 |
U.S. Border Patrol Recidivism Rates
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recidivism5 | 16% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
5 Recidivism refers to percentage of individuals apprehended more than one time by the Border Patrol within a fiscal year.