Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border hit a record high at the end of 2023
The U.S. Border Patrol had nearly 250,000 encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico in December 2023.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The U.S. Border Patrol had nearly 250,000 encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico in December 2023.
An estimated 870,000 Mexican migrants came to the U.S. between 2013-18, while an estimated 710,000 left the U.S. for Mexico during that time.
The U.S. Border Patrol reported more than 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2021 fiscal year.
Fewer than 1 million foreign students enrolled for either online or in-person classes at U.S. universities in the 2020-21 school year.
While Mexico is the United States’ largest source of immigrants, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined since 2007.
Mexico has apprehended and deported more migrants within its borders so far this fiscal year than at the same point in fiscal 2018.
African immigrants make up a small share of the U.S. immigrant population, but their numbers are growing – roughly doubling every decade since 1970.
Only 39% of Americans view building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border as a very or somewhat important goal.
The Obama administration deported 333,341 unauthorized immigrants in the 2015 fiscal year, a decline of about 81,000 (or 20%) from the prior year.
The number of migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border rose by 42% in October and November of 2016 compared with the same two-month period in 2015.
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