Apprehensions of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border decreased by 75% in September compared with the previous year, reaching the lowest point since the Trump administration, according to preliminary data reported by USA TODAY. The number of migrant encounters and apprehensions between ports of entry dropped below 54,000 in September. The decline puts the U.S. Border Patrol on track to report roughly 1.5 million unlawful crossings in fiscal 2024, down from more than 2 million in fiscal 2023. The federal fiscal year ended on September 30. On an annual basis, it would be the lowest level since fiscal 2020, when the Trump administration reported roughly 400,000 encounters and apprehensions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time monthly apprehensions and encounters fell below 50,000 was in August 2020.
Migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border initially dropped below half a million annually in 2010 during the Obama administration and remained below that mark for eight years. The lowest point was around 310,000 in 2017, the first year of the Trump administration before numbers started to rise again. Under Trump, crossings increased in 2018 and peaked in 2019 at over 850,000, as reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The recent downturn in illegal migration began this year and intensified in June after a Biden administration order that limited asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border. At the same time, Mexico began an enforcement effort that has prevented many migrants from reaching the border. Shifts in U.S. and Mexican border enforcement policies often lead to temporary declines in border crossings as migrants wait to see how policies will affect them. With the presidential election looming, the September level could represent a low water mark in illegal migration, said Adam Isaacson of the Washington Office on Latin America.