Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border hit a record high at the end of 2023

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The U.S. Border Patrol had nearly 250,000 encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico in December 2023, according to government statistics. That was the highest monthly total on record, easily eclipsing the previous peak of about 224,000 encounters in May 2022.

The monthly number of encounters has soared since 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic temporarily forced the U.S.-Mexico border to close and slowed migration across much of the world. In April 2020, the Border Patrol recorded around 16,000 encounters – among the lowest monthly totals in decades.

Since then, the monthly number of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border has exceeded 200,000 on 10 separate occasions. That threshold previously hadn’t been reached since March 2000, when there were about 220,000 encounters.

It’s not clear whether the recent high numbers of encounters at the border will persist in 2024. In January, encounters fell to around 124,000, according to the latest available statistics.

The term “encounters” refers to two distinct types of events:

Apprehensions: Migrants are taken into custody in the U.S., at least temporarily, to await a decision on whether they can remain in the country legally, such as by being granted asylum. Apprehensions are carried out under Title 8 of the U.S. code, which deals with immigration law.

Expulsions: Migrants are immediately expelled to their home country or last country of transit without being held in the U.S. custody. Expulsions are carried out under Title 42 of the U.S. code, a previously rarely used section of the law that the Trump administration invoked during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The law empowers federal health authorities to stop migrants from entering the country if it is determined that barring them could prevent the spread of contagious diseases.

In the early months of the pandemic in the U.S., the Border Patrol relied heavily on Title 42 to expel most of the migrants it encountered at the border. The Biden administration stopped the use of Title 42 in May 2023, when the federal government declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Since then, the Border Patrol has been apprehending migrants within the U.S. instead of expelling them from the country.

The number of cases heard by immigration judges in the country has reached unprecedented levels