by Bethany Blankley
Preliminary data obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Border Patrol agent show apprehensions and gotaways at the southern border total 232,809 in June.
This includes 188,787 encounters/apprehensions and at least 44,022 gotaways.
The preliminary data excludes Office of Field Operations data, meaning the official numbers, once released, will be higher, although U.S. Customs and Border Protection doesn’t make the gotaway data public.
“Gotaways” is the official term used by Border Patrol to describe foreign nationals who enter the U.S. illegally and don’t surrender at ports of entry but intentionally seek to evade capture from law enforcement.
In June, these numbers totaled 247,330, including 197,321 encounters/apprehensions and at least 50,009 gotaways. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported the highest monthly total of apprehensions at the southern border in recorded U.S. history of 239,416. That excluded gotaways totaling at least 70,793.
In April, CBP reported 235,478 total encounters/apprehensions; in March, 222,239; in February, 165,902; in January, 154,816. These totals all exclude gotaway data.
In all months, the Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley sectors in Texas experienced the most traffic.
The numbers are broken down by BP sector and categories, including apprehensions, turn backs, non-violations, outstanding, no-arrests, gotaways (known/recorded), and deceased. Here are the numbers for the month of July based on the preliminary data obtained by The Center Square.
Big Bend Sector
Apps – 1,884
TBs – 15
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 677
Unresolved Detection – 12
No Arrest – 59
Deceased – 4
Non-violation – 9
Outstanding – 22
Del Rio Sector
Apps – 51,674
TBs – 80
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 10,993
Unresolved Detection – 156
No Arrest – 2,222
Deceased – 18
Non-violation – 100
Outstanding – 49
El Centro Sector
Apps – 7,191
TBs – 585
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 691
Unresolved Detection – 1
No Arrest – 1
Deceased – 4
Non-violation – 4
Outstanding – 7
El Paso Sector
Apps- 25,258
TBs- 3,180
Got Aways (known/recorded)- 10,126
Unresolved Detection- 34
No Arrest- 73
Deceased – 10
Non-violation – 44
Outstanding – 33
Laredo Sector
Apps – 7,006
TBs – 1,568
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 1,974
Unresolved Detection – 46
No Arrest – 754
Deceased -15
Non-violation – 243
Outstanding – 0
RGV Sector
App s- 36,078
TBs – 3,131
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 4,232
Unresolved Detection – 279
No Arrest – 3,015
Deceased – 30
Non-violation – 125
Outstanding – 26
San Diego Sector
Apps – 16,553
TBs – 460
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 4,386
Unresolved Detection – 9
No Arrest – 3,779
Deceased – 0
Non-violation – 30
Outstanding – 171
Tucson Sector
Apps- 17,433
TBs- 906
Got Aways (known/recorded)- 9,678
Unresolved Detection- 135
No Arrest- 2,181
Deceased- 22
Non-violation- 160
Outstanding- 294
Yuma Sector
Apps- 25,730
TBs- 136
Got Aways (known/recorded)- 1,265
Unresolved Detection- 13
No Arrest- 23
Deceased- 6
Non-violation-35
Outstanding- 12
Apprehensions include those in the U.S. illegally who surrender or are caught by BP officers. Turn backs include those who entered illegally but returned to Mexico.
The categories of “no arrests” and “unresolved detection” aren’t part of 6 U.S. Code, which classifies how encounters are to be reported. These categories are used as a way to lower the number of gotaways being reported, the BP officer, who talked with The Center Square on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his job, says.
No arrests mean someone “was detected in a non-border zone and their presence didn’t affect Got-Away statistics,” according to the official internal tracking system definition used by agents to record data. “Unresolved detection” means the same thing, but the officers, for a range of reasons, couldn’t determine citizenship.
Non-violations are “deemed to have committed no infraction and don’t affect Got-Away statistics,” according to the tracking system definition.
The categories of non-violations, no arrests and unresolved detection should actually be categorized as got-aways, the BP officer says, assuming all non-arrests were of non-citizens. Including these categories, the total number of gotaways for July would be closer to 56,817; June would be closer to 66,973 and May’s would be 90,246.
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor to The Center Square.
