---
title: "Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest level in more than 50 years"
description: "Since the first full month of Trump’s current term, the Border Patrol has recorded fewer than 10,000 encounters a month at the southwestern border. "
date: "2026-02-02"
authors:
  - name: "John Gramlich"
    job_title: "Associate Director, Short Reads"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/john-gramlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/02/02/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-are-at-their-lowest-level-in-more-than-50-years/"
categories:
  - "Border Security & Enforcement"
  - "Immigration & Migration"
  - "Immigration Attitudes"
  - "Immigration Trends"
  - "Unauthorized Immigration"
---

# Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest level in more than 50 years

U.S. Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico have fallen to their lowest level in more than 50 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the federal government.

The Border Patrol recorded 237,538 encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2025 fiscal year, which began in October 2024 and ended in September 2025. That was down from more than 1.5 million encounters in fiscal 2024, more than 2 million in fiscal 2023 and a record of more than 2.2 million in fiscal 2022. The 2025 total was the lowest in any fiscal year since 1970, according to [historical data from the Border Patrol](https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2021-Aug/US59B8~1.PDF).

**About this research**

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at how U.S. Border Patrol encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border have changed in recent years.

#### Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. This research builds on our long-standing work on migration trends.

Learn more about [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/about/) and our [work on immigration and migration](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/immigration-migration/).

#### How did we do this?

This analysis relies on statistics [published on a regular basis](https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters) by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that encompasses the Border Patrol.

### In 2025, encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border fell to their lowest level since 1970

*Migrant encounters by U.S. Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border, by fiscal year*

| Fiscal year | Total encounters |
| --- | --- |
| 1960 | 21,022 |
| 1961 | 21,745 |
| 1962 | 21,103 |
| 1963 | 29,644 |
| 1964 | 32,519 |
| 1965 | 40,020 |
| 1966 | 62,640 |
| 1967 | 73,973 |
| 1968 | 96,641 |
| 1969 | 137,968 |
| 1970 | 201,780 |
| 1971 | 263,991 |
| 1972 | 321,326 |
| 1973 | 441,066 |
| 1974 | 571,606 |
| 1975 | 512,264 |
| 1976 | 607,499 |
| 1977 | 733,193 |
| 1978 | 789,441 |
| 1979 | 795,798 |
| 1980 | 690,554 |
| 1981 | 749,808 |
| 1982 | 745,820 |
| 1983 | 1,033,974 |
| 1984 | 1,058,276 |
| 1985 | 1,183,351 |
| 1986 | 1,615,844 |
| 1987 | 1,122,067 |
| 1988 | 942,561 |
| 1989 | 852,506 |
| 1990 | 1,049,321 |
| 1991 | 1,077,876 |
| 1992 | 1,145,574 |
| 1993 | 1,212,886 |
| 1994 | 979,101 |
| 1995 | 1,271,390 |
| 1996 | 1,507,020 |
| 1997 | 1,368,707 |
| 1998 | 1,516,680 |
| 1999 | 1,537,000 |
| 2000 | 1,643,679 |
| 2001 | 1,235,718 |
| 2002 | 929,809 |
| 2003 | 905,065 |
| 2004 | 1,139,282 |
| 2005 | 1,171,396 |
| 2006 | 1,071,972 |
| 2007 | 858,638 |
| 2008 | 705,005 |
| 2009 | 540,865 |
| 2010 | 447,731 |
| 2011 | 327,577 |
| 2012 | 356,873 |
| 2013 | 414,397 |
| 2014 | 479,371 |
| 2015 | 331,333 |
| 2016 | 408,870 |
| 2017 | 303,916 |
| 2018 | 396,579 |
| 2019 | 851,508 |
| 2020 | 400,651 |
| 2021 | 1,659,206 |
| 2022 | 2,206,436 |
| 2023 | 2,045,838 |
| 2024 | 1,530,523 |
| 2025 | 237,538 |

Note: Beginning in fiscal 2020, totals combine apprehensions and expulsions into a new category known as encounters. Totals before March 2020 include apprehensions only. Some migrants are encountered more than once.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In this analysis, the term “encounters” refers primarily to Border Patrol apprehensions of migrants crossing into the U.S. between official points of entry. It refers to events, not people. Border Patrol agents may encounter some migrants more than once – for example, if a migrant is apprehended and deported but tries to enter the U.S. again.

The dramatic decline in migrant encounters follows a series of policy changes in both the U.S. and Mexico during both the Biden and Trump administrations:

- In April 2024, then-U.S. President Joe Biden and then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador [announced an agreement](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/us/politics/biden-mexico-illegal-immigration.html) to step up immigration enforcement. Mexico’s increased enforcement reportedly has [played a significant role](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/14/mexico-migrant-border-merry-go-round/) in reducing migrant flows to the U.S.

- In June 2024 and again in September 2024, the Biden administration [imposed new restrictions](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-administration-toughens-asylum-restrictions-at-border) on migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

- Immediately after returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump [declared a national emergency](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/trump-immigration-emergency-executive-order) at the southwestern border and directed the U.S. military to assist with border security. The administration also [shut down a Biden-era app](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-shuts-cbp-one-immigration-app-dashing-migrants-hopes-entering-us-rcna188448) that had allowed migrants to apply for asylum.

- The Trump administration has [increased arrests and deportations of migrants from the interior of the U.S.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/18/us/trump-deportation-numbers-immigration-crackdown.html), potentially deterring new migrant arrivals at the border.

***Related: ***[*How Americans view key Trump administration immigration policies*](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/01/29/how-americans-view-key-trump-administration-immigration-policies/)

#### Monthly statistics show an even greater decline in migrant encounters in Trump’s second term

While annual statistics show a huge decline in migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2025 fiscal year, these numbers *understate* the decrease that has occurred since Trump’s second term began on Jan. 20, 2025.

### Monthly migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have slowed to a trickle in Trump's second term

*Migrant encounters by U.S. Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border, by month*

| Month/Year | Total encounters |
| --- | --- |
| 10/1999 | 91,410 |
| 11/1999 | 76,196 |
| 12/1999 | 71,252 |
| 01/2000 | 185,979 |
| 02/2000 | 211,328 |
| 03/2000 | 220,063 |
| 04/2000 | 180,050 |
| 05/2000 | 166,296 |
| 06/2000 | 115,093 |
| 07/2000 | 113,956 |
| 08/2000 | 114,312 |
| 09/2000 | 97,744 |
| 10/2000 | 82,632 |
| 11/2000 | 67,709 |
| 12/2000 | 55,081 |
| 01/2001 | 125,090 |
| 02/2001 | 152,229 |
| 03/2001 | 170,580 |
| 04/2001 | 142,813 |
| 05/2001 | 122,927 |
| 06/2001 | 89,131 |
| 07/2001 | 83,602 |
| 08/2001 | 84,648 |
| 09/2001 | 59,276 |
| 10/2001 | 37,812 |
| 11/2001 | 32,506 |
| 12/2001 | 31,501 |
| 01/2002 | 79,793 |
| 02/2002 | 95,724 |
| 03/2002 | 126,992 |
| 04/2002 | 121,921 |
| 05/2002 | 97,424 |
| 06/2002 | 78,655 |
| 07/2002 | 76,661 |
| 08/2002 | 82,557 |
| 09/2002 | 68,263 |
| 10/2002 | 61,792 |
| 11/2002 | 47,731 |
| 12/2002 | 37,824 |
| 01/2003 | 86,925 |
| 02/2003 | 96,869 |
| 03/2003 | 98,399 |
| 04/2003 | 75,359 |
| 05/2003 | 88,690 |
| 06/2003 | 75,530 |
| 07/2003 | 79,284 |
| 08/2003 | 84,486 |
| 09/2003 | 72,176 |
| 10/2003 | 65,391 |
| 11/2003 | 57,894 |
| 12/2003 | 43,614 |
| 01/2004 | 92,521 |
| 02/2004 | 110,669 |
| 03/2004 | 154,981 |
| 04/2004 | 135,468 |
| 05/2004 | 118,726 |
| 06/2004 | 94,590 |
| 07/2004 | 92,165 |
| 08/2004 | 93,246 |
| 09/2004 | 80,017 |
| 10/2004 | 75,913 |
| 11/2004 | 65,135 |
| 12/2004 | 48,406 |
| 01/2005 | 93,020 |
| 02/2005 | 113,775 |
| 03/2005 | 143,048 |
| 04/2005 | 140,062 |
| 05/2005 | 115,823 |
| 06/2005 | 90,786 |
| 07/2005 | 94,954 |
| 08/2005 | 96,733 |
| 09/2005 | 93,741 |
| 10/2005 | 83,557 |
| 11/2005 | 70,975 |
| 12/2005 | 52,673 |
| 01/2006 | 101,195 |
| 02/2006 | 125,046 |
| 03/2006 | 160,696 |
| 04/2006 | 126,538 |
| 05/2006 | 105,450 |
| 06/2006 | 68,366 |
| 07/2006 | 59,641 |
| 08/2006 | 59,751 |
| 09/2006 | 58,084 |
| 10/2006 | 60,713 |
| 11/2006 | 51,594 |
| 12/2006 | 40,527 |
| 01/2007 | 71,934 |
| 02/2007 | 79,268 |
| 03/2007 | 114,137 |
| 04/2007 | 104,465 |
| 05/2007 | 88,504 |
| 06/2007 | 71,338 |
| 07/2007 | 66,782 |
| 08/2007 | 59,795 |
| 09/2007 | 49,581 |
| 10/2007 | 51,339 |
| 11/2007 | 42,209 |
| 12/2007 | 31,802 |
| 01/2008 | 59,028 |
| 02/2008 | 73,483 |
| 03/2008 | 89,770 |
| 04/2008 | 91,566 |
| 05/2008 | 69,233 |
| 06/2008 | 53,854 |
| 07/2008 | 49,472 |
| 08/2008 | 48,541 |
| 09/2008 | 44,708 |
| 10/2008 | 42,938 |
| 11/2008 | 32,780 |
| 12/2008 | 25,947 |
| 01/2009 | 44,502 |
| 02/2009 | 49,211 |
| 03/2009 | 67,342 |
| 04/2009 | 58,493 |
| 05/2009 | 50,884 |
| 06/2009 | 46,044 |
| 07/2009 | 43,843 |
| 08/2009 | 43,522 |
| 09/2009 | 35,359 |
| 10/2009 | 40,890 |
| 11/2009 | 32,815 |
| 12/2009 | 25,034 |
| 01/2010 | 34,784 |
| 02/2010 | 42,790 |
| 03/2010 | 61,361 |
| 04/2010 | 55,237 |
| 05/2010 | 47,045 |
| 06/2010 | 32,955 |
| 07/2010 | 25,609 |
| 08/2010 | 26,415 |
| 09/2010 | 22,796 |
| 10/2010 | 26,165 |
| 11/2010 | 22,405 |
| 12/2010 | 19,429 |
| 01/2011 | 23,926 |
| 02/2011 | 28,786 |
| 03/2011 | 42,014 |
| 04/2011 | 36,251 |
| 05/2011 | 31,236 |
| 06/2011 | 27,166 |
| 07/2011 | 23,170 |
| 08/2011 | 24,166 |
| 09/2011 | 22,863 |
| 10/2011 | 25,612 |
| 11/2011 | 23,368 |
| 12/2011 | 18,983 |
| 01/2012 | 25,714 |
| 02/2012 | 31,579 |
| 03/2012 | 42,218 |
| 04/2012 | 40,628 |
| 05/2012 | 36,966 |
| 06/2012 | 30,669 |
| 07/2012 | 26,978 |
| 08/2012 | 27,567 |
| 09/2012 | 26,591 |
| 10/2012 | 28,929 |
| 11/2012 | 27,636 |
| 12/2012 | 23,243 |
| 01/2013 | 26,921 |
| 02/2013 | 35,042 |
| 03/2013 | 47,293 |
| 04/2013 | 48,212 |
| 05/2013 | 43,856 |
| 06/2013 | 34,436 |
| 07/2013 | 33,230 |
| 08/2013 | 33,797 |
| 09/2013 | 31,802 |
| 10/2013 | 35,312 |
| 11/2013 | 31,896 |
| 12/2013 | 29,528 |
| 01/2014 | 28,668 |
| 02/2014 | 36,403 |
| 03/2014 | 49,596 |
| 04/2014 | 51,502 |
| 05/2014 | 60,683 |
| 06/2014 | 57,862 |
| 07/2014 | 40,708 |
| 08/2014 | 31,388 |
| 09/2014 | 25,825 |
| 10/2014 | 26,450 |
| 11/2014 | 24,641 |
| 12/2014 | 25,019 |
| 01/2015 | 21,514 |
| 02/2015 | 24,376 |
| 03/2015 | 29,791 |
| 04/2015 | 29,750 |
| 05/2015 | 31,576 |
| 06/2015 | 29,303 |
| 07/2015 | 28,388 |
| 08/2015 | 30,239 |
| 09/2015 | 30,286 |
| 10/2015 | 32,724 |
| 11/2015 | 32,838 |
| 12/2015 | 37,014 |
| 01/2016 | 23,758 |
| 02/2016 | 26,072 |
| 03/2016 | 33,316 |
| 04/2016 | 38,089 |
| 05/2016 | 40,337 |
| 06/2016 | 34,450 |
| 07/2016 | 33,723 |
| 08/2016 | 37,048 |
| 09/2016 | 39,501 |
| 10/2016 | 46,184 |
| 11/2016 | 47,211 |
| 12/2016 | 43,251 |
| 01/2017 | 31,576 |
| 02/2017 | 18,754 |
| 03/2017 | 12,195 |
| 04/2017 | 11,127 |
| 05/2017 | 14,519 |
| 06/2017 | 16,087 |
| 07/2017 | 18,187 |
| 08/2017 | 22,288 |
| 09/2017 | 22,537 |
| 10/2017 | 25,488 |
| 11/2017 | 29,085 |
| 12/2017 | 28,995 |
| 01/2018 | 25,975 |
| 02/2018 | 26,666 |
| 03/2018 | 37,390 |
| 04/2018 | 38,243 |
| 05/2018 | 40,339 |
| 06/2018 | 34,089 |
| 07/2018 | 31,299 |
| 08/2018 | 37,524 |
| 09/2018 | 41,486 |
| 10/2018 | 51,005 |
| 11/2018 | 51,857 |
| 12/2018 | 50,751 |
| 01/2019 | 47,979 |
| 02/2019 | 66,883 |
| 03/2019 | 92,833 |
| 04/2019 | 99,273 |
| 05/2019 | 132,856 |
| 06/2019 | 94,902 |
| 07/2019 | 71,978 |
| 08/2019 | 50,684 |
| 09/2019 | 40,507 |
| 10/2019 | 35,402 |
| 11/2019 | 33,524 |
| 12/2019 | 32,853 |
| 01/2020 | 29,205 |
| 02/2020 | 30,077 |
| 03/2020 | 30,389 |
| 04/2020 | 16,182 |
| 05/2020 | 21,593 |
| 06/2020 | 30,836 |
| 07/2020 | 38,536 |
| 08/2020 | 47,283 |
| 09/2020 | 54,771 |
| 10/2020 | 69,032 |
| 11/2020 | 69,169 |
| 12/2020 | 71,141 |
| 01/2021 | 75,316 |
| 02/2021 | 97,643 |
| 03/2021 | 169,216 |
| 04/2021 | 173,699 |
| 05/2021 | 172,654 |
| 06/2021 | 178,649 |
| 07/2021 | 200,658 |
| 08/2021 | 196,514 |
| 09/2021 | 185,515 |
| 10/2021 | 159,113 |
| 11/2021 | 167,015 |
| 12/2021 | 170,602 |
| 01/2022 | 147,877 |
| 02/2022 | 159,170 |
| 03/2022 | 211,181 |
| 04/2022 | 203,504 |
| 05/2022 | 224,370 |
| 06/2022 | 192,399 |
| 07/2022 | 181,834 |
| 08/2022 | 181,774 |
| 09/2022 | 207,597 |
| 10/2022 | 205,134 |
| 11/2022 | 207,680 |
| 12/2022 | 222,018 |
| 01/2023 | 129,513 |
| 02/2023 | 130,521 |
| 03/2023 | 163,672 |
| 04/2023 | 183,921 |
| 05/2023 | 171,382 |
| 06/2023 | 99,538 |
| 07/2023 | 132,642 |
| 08/2023 | 181,054 |
| 09/2023 | 218,763 |
| 10/2023 | 188,749 |
| 11/2023 | 191,106 |
| 12/2023 | 249,740 |
| 01/2024 | 124,215 |
| 02/2024 | 140,641 |
| 03/2024 | 137,473 |
| 04/2024 | 128,895 |
| 05/2024 | 117,905 |
| 06/2024 | 83,532 |
| 07/2024 | 56,400 |
| 08/2024 | 58,009 |
| 09/2024 | 53,858 |
| 10/2024 | 56,515 |
| 11/2024 | 46,609 |
| 12/2024 | 47,320 |
| 01/2025 | 29,105 |
| 02/2025 | 8,349 |
| 03/2025 | 7,179 |
| 04/2025 | 8,376 |
| 05/2025 | 8,724 |
| 06/2025 | 6,066 |
| 07/2025 | 4,592 |
| 08/2025 | 6,317 |
| 09/2025 | 8,386 |
| 10/2025 | 7,989 |
| 11/2025 | 7,348 |
| 12/2025 | 6,478 |

Note: Beginning in March 2020, monthly totals combine apprehensions and expulsions into a new category known as encounters. Monthly totals before March 2020 include apprehensions only. Some migrants are encountered more than once.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The federal fiscal year runs from October to the end of September, so fiscal 2025 included nearly four months of the Biden administration. Migrant encounters during Biden’s last four months in office were much higher than in the months after Trump’s return.

Since February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s current term, the Border Patrol has recorded fewer than 10,000 encounters a month at the southwestern border. Those are the lowest totals in more than 25 years of available monthly data. Recent totals have been even lower than the 16,182 encounters in April 2020, when [international migration plummeted](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/world/americas/coronavirus-migrants.html) in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Historically, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico has varied based on factors such as economic, political and security conditions in migrants’ home countries and policy changes in the U.S., Mexico and elsewhere.

*Note: This is an update of an analysis originally published on March 15, 2021.*