Border Patrol apprehensions, 1925-2020

With news of an increase in the number of migrants arriving at the border, I thought it useful to share historical patterns of apprehensions by Border Patrol. The chart below uses data reported by Customs and Border Protection dating back to the Border Patrol’s founding.

The agency’s data indicate that the United States has not seen a historically unprecedented situation at the border in many years, at least not if measured by the number of people coming into the Border Patrol’s custody. On...