What are the official CBP statistics for migrant encounters at US southern border 2021-2024?
Executive summary
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports “encounters” as the sum of U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Title 8 apprehensions, Office of Field Operations (OFO) Title 8 inadmissibles, and Title 42 expulsions; CBP’s public “Nationwide” and “Southwest Land Border” pages are the authoritative sources for 2021–2024 encounter counts (definitions and scope) [1] [2]. Multiple CBP monthly releases and congressional fact sheets show totals rising sharply in FY2021–FY2023 and peaking in late 2023, then falling in 2024 after policy changes; CBP and oversight reports cite roughly 10.8 million total encounters nationwide from FY2021 through FY2024 and about 8.7+ million at the Southwest border in that span [3] [4].
1. What “CBP statistics” actually count — definitions that matter
CBP encounter totals combine three different categories: USBP Title 8 apprehensions (between ports), OFO Title 8 inadmissibles (at ports of entry), and Title 42 expulsions (public‑health expulsions recorded in CBP systems). CBP explicitly warns that data come from live systems and are subject to revision; separate pages exist for Nationwide Encounters and Southwest Land Border Encounters for sector and POE breakdowns [1] [2] [5].
2. The headline numbers, 2021–2024 — big picture totals from CBP and oversight
Congressional and CBP reporting summarize the 2021–2024 period as historic in scale: the House Homeland Security Committee and its “Startling Stats” factsheets cite “more than 10.8 million encounters nationwide” since FY2021, with “more than 8.72 million” at the Southwest border over the same period [3] [4]. CBP’s own FY2024 enforcement and monthly releases provide the underlying month‑by‑month counts that produce those totals [6] [7].
3. Year-by-year trend: rebound, peak, then decline in 2024
CBP and independent analysts show a rebound in encounters in FY2021 after pandemic lows, large annual totals in FY2022–FY2023 (with records such as December 2023 monthly highs), and meaningful declines in 2024 after policy actions. CBP monthly statements cite sharp drops in mid‑2024—e.g., Border Patrol recorded 83,536 southwest border between‑port encounters in June 2024 and about 58,000 in August 2024—attributed by CBP to a Presidential Proclamation and enforcement changes [8] [7]. Pew Research and other reporting also document a sharp fall in 2024 from 2023’s record highs [9].
4. Southwest border dominates the totals — scale and national distribution
CBP notes that Southwest Land Border encounters account for the vast majority of U.S. border encounters in recent years and provides a dedicated dataset for sector and POE breakdowns [2] [5]. The House committee and other accounts place roughly 8.7 million of the cited 10.8 million nationwide encounters at the Southwest border since FY2021 [3] [4].
5. Points of contention and how different actors use the same data
Political actors use the same CBP numbers to reach opposite conclusions. The House Homeland Security Committee emphasizes totals and frames them as a “crisis,” publishing the 10.8 million and nearly 3 million inadmissible encounters in FY2024 [3] [4]. CBP frames the 2024 declines as successful enforcement outcomes tied to new policies and international cooperation, citing monthly drops and removals/returns figures [7] [10]. Pew and independent analysts corroborate the 2024 fall but attribute causes to mixed drivers (U.S. policy plus Mexican enforcement), showing different emphases [9] [11].
6. Known limitations and what the public sources do not say
CBP cautions that encounter counts can include repeat crossings by the same individual, are extracted from live systems and may be revised, and that “encounters” are not the same as unique individuals [1] [5]. Estimates of “gotaways” (people who evaded detection) are reported by some analysts and committees but are not a single CBP‑published nationwide figure in these sources; FactCheck and others have used DHS/CBP datasets to summarize southern border encounters but note modeling and observation are required for gotaway estimates [12] [8]. Available sources do not mention a single consolidated CBP table in these results that lists every yearly total for 2021–2024 in one place; the official breakdown is distributed across CBP’s Nationwide and Southwest pages and monthly releases [1] [2] [6].
7. How to retrieve the official CBP series yourself
For the official CBP time series, consult the “Nationwide Encounters” and “Southwest Land Border Encounters” pages and CBP’s FY enforcement tables and monthly updates. Those pages contain USBP Title 8 apprehensions, OFO inadmissibles, and Title 42 expulsions and provide monthly and fiscal‑year rollups and sector/POE detail [1] [2] [6].
Summary takeaway: CBP’s published series defines and compiles encounters across USBP and OFO components and shows a surge beginning in FY2021 yielding multi‑million totals through FY2024 (CBP and oversight quotes put the FY2021–FY2024 sum at roughly 10.8 million nationwide, ~8.7M at the Southwest border), followed by a steep decline in 2024 after policy changes; exact year‑by‑year tallies are available directly on CBP’s Nationwide and Southwest encounter pages and in the FY2024 enforcement tables [1] [2] [3] [6].