How many illegal border crossings were recorded in the US in 2023?
Executive summary
Official tallies of "illegal border crossings" in U.S. government reporting are recorded as "encounters," a composite measure that includes Border Patrol apprehensions, Office of Field Operations inadmissibles, and (when in effect) Title 42 expulsions, and the sources provided do not include a single, unambiguous nationwide FY2023 total in the excerpts supplied here (CBP’s nationwide encounters dashboard is the authoritative source for that number) [1]. Fragmentary official figures from 2023 show large monthly and sector variation — for example, Border Patrol reported 162,317 southwest-border encounters in March 2023 and CBP reported 164,911 unique southwest-border individuals in August 2023 — but the exact consolidated nationwide FY2023 total is not explicitly given in the provided reporting excerpts [2] [3].
1. What the government counts and why that matters
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports "encounters," a metric that combines U.S. Border Patrol Title 8 apprehensions, Office of Field Operations Title 8 inadmissibles, and, where applicable, Title 42 expulsions, and CBP warns its dashboard numbers are subject to revision for data corrections or definitional changes [1] [4]. This matters because "encounters" can double-count repeat crossers within a fiscal year — CBP and independent analysts note that some people are encountered multiple times and thus total encounters overstate the number of unique individuals attempting entry [4] [5].
2. What the provided 2023 snapshots show
Samples from 2023 reveal the scale and volatility along the southwest border: Border Patrol recorded 162,317 southwest encounters in March 2023 (up from 130,024 in February) and CBP reported 164,911 unique southwest-border individuals in August 2023, while other monthly tallies spiked later in the year with December 2023 cited as a monthly peak in some compilations [2] [3] [5]. Advocacy and oversight sources highlighted higher totals overall: a congressional committee’s factsheet characterized FY2023 as "worst year…ever" and cited 269,735 southwest-border encounters in the final FY2023 month, reflecting the partisan and political overlay to how the data are presented [6].
3. Why different organizations reach different emphases
Independent researchers such as the Migration Policy Institute emphasize structural shifts in migration in FY2023 — notably a big increase in arrivals at ports of entry because of parole programs and the CBP One app — and they also note a decline in Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry relative to the prior year (160,598 fewer southwest between-port encounters in FY2023), underscoring that raw encounter totals don’t capture where or how migrants are arriving [7]. Data-aggregation outlets such as USAFacts and Statista compile CBP data into charts and point to monthly peaks and year-to-year trends but also caution that encounters include repeat crossings and expulsions formerly carried out under Title 42 [5] [8].
4. The reporting limitation and the clear next step
The exact consolidated nationwide FY2023 "encounters" total is maintained on CBP’s Nationwide Encounters dashboard and in CBP’s final fiscal-year statistics, which are the primary sources to cite for a single official number; the excerpts provided here do not include that final fiscal-year aggregate [1]. Given the definitional complexities — encounters vs. unique individuals, Title 42 expulsions through May 2023, and changes in migration pathways — the most accurate route is to consult CBP’s finalized FY2023 nationwide encounters table or the CBP Data Portal for the precise consolidated total [1] [4].