The number of encounters between law enforcement and suspected illegal migrants across five regions of Texas fell dramatically in the 2024 fiscal year through March compared to the same period in 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
The figures depicted sharp declines in the El Paso, Big Bend, Del Rio, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley quadrants, which combined cover the state's entire border with Mexico. Over the same period, the number of encounters increased across both Arizona and California.
This is a significant win for Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has introduced several measures to combat illegal immigration, including the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and installing razor wire along the border. On April 12, Abbott said that 507,200 suspected undocumented migrants had been detained in his state since 2021 when he launched Operation Lone Star to combat illegal crossings.
In the El Paso region of Texas, 30,420 law enforcement-migrant encounters were recorded in the 2024 fiscal year through March, a 24.1 percent decrease from the same period in the 2023 fiscal year, when 40,103 encounters were registered by CBP.
During the same time, CBP data shows encounters in Big Bend plummeted 63.7 percent, from 1,200 to 436, while those in Del Rio dropped 52.8 percent, from 23,904 to 11,281.
The 2024 fiscal year through March also saw encounters in Laredo and Rio Grande Valley fall by 42.8 percent and 49.5 percent, respectively, as opposed to the same period in 2023. In Laredo, the total dipped from 5,210 to 2,978, while Rio Grande Valley declined from 17,956 to 9,065.
The number of law enforcement encounters is widely used as a rough proxy for the rate of irregular immigration, especially as many migrants voluntarily turn themselves in to law enforcement to claim asylum.
Noticeably, however, while migrant encounters fell across all five regions of Texas, they increased in Arizona and California, both of which are governed by Democrats.
The CBP data divides Arizona into two sectors, Tucson and Yuma. In Tucson, the number of encounters rose 23.7 percent, to 41,941, in the 2024 fiscal year through March, against 33,898 during the same period in 2023. While the figure fell by 57.1 percent in the Yuma region, from 13,667 to 5,865, this still left a net increase across the state.
Similarly in California, the San Diego sector recorded a 45.1 percent increase, from 23,286 encounters to 33,784 over this period, more than compensating for the drop in neighboring El Centro, from 4,448 to 1,710.
Control over irregular immigration has become a heated political issue with former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, making tighter controls a central pillar of his bid for a second White House term. According to CBP, there were 9.8 million interactions between law enforcement and suspected illegal migrants from October 2019 to January 2024.
Speaking to Newsweek in February, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, who unsuccessfully ran for the Arizona governorship in 2022, claimed Abbott's border policies were causing an influx of migrants into her state.
"Because Greg Abbott is now working to secure the border in Texas, we're seeing an influx of people pouring across our border, even more so than we had in previous months," Lake said.
Newsweek contacted the press office of Abbott for comment via email.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
