With just over two months to go in the November presidential election, a Border Patrol report reveals a slight increase in the number of migrants apprehended after illegally crossing the southwest border between ports of entry in August. Agents assigned to the nine southwest Border Patrol sectors apprehended just over 58,000 migrants in August — up from 56,000 in July.
An unofficial Border Patrol report obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Border Patrol agents encountered approximately 58,000 migrants who illegally crossed from Mexico into the United States between ports of entry in August. The San Diego Sector led the nine southwest border sectors with the apprehension of more than 14,000 migrants.
The 58,000 migrant apprehensions are up from the July report, where agents encountered just over 56,000. This represents an increase of approximately 3.6 percent as the 2024 presidential election draws near.
While the San Diego Sector remained number one in migrant apprehensions, the sector experienced a decrease in migrant encounters from July. The San Diego Sector agents apprehended approximately 14,400 migrants in August, the report indicates. This is down slightly from the just over 15,000 apprehended in July. During the last week of August, San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel reported the apprehension of more than 3,000 migrants from 53 countries. She also reports the apprehension of more than 35,000 Chinese nationals so far this fiscal year.
The El Paso Sector jumped to second place in August with the apprehension of nearly 13,300 migrants. This is up from the 12,000 apprehended in July. The Tucson Sector remained flat with approximately 12,000 migrant apprehensions in both July and August.
Following dropping approval ratings for President Biden and Vice President Harris on the topic of immigration and border security and a meeting between the Mexican president and two Biden administration cabinet members, actions taken by the Mexican government led to a drop of more than 125,000 migrant apprehensions in January. Apprehensions fell from nearly a quarter-million migrants in December to 124,215. As a point of reference, the largest number of migrants encountered during the Trump administration came in May 2019 when agents apprehended 132,856.
The July encounters report of approximately 56,000 and the August report of approximately 58,000 reveal the lowest number of apprehensions during the Biden-Harris administration. In contrast, the lowest number of migrant encounters during the Trump era came in April 2020, when agents apprehended only 16,182 migrants.
A CBP official told Breitbart Texas in February that Mexico’s efforts are not a long-term fix to the problem. “The migrants are just being delayed from reaching the U.S. border,” the source stated. The migrants are being moved further south, delaying their efforts to reach their goal of seeking asylum in the U.S.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
