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Tuesday, Jun. 4, 2024

Is Texas the only state where migrant encounters have declined so far in fiscal year 2024?

Brandy Ruiz, El Paso Matters

no

Encounters with undocumented immigrants are down in Texas and New Mexico while up in California and Arizona in the first seven months of the 2024 fiscal year, October through April.

Border Patrol tracks encounters by sectors rather than states. The four sectors entirely in Texas saw encounters decline by 26% in FY24 so far compared with the same period in FY23. Encounters in the El Paso sector – which is mostly in New Mexico – declined by 41%.

Arizona and California saw statewide encounters rise by more than 30% each, although encounters at the Yuma, Arizona and El Centro, California sectors declined by around 70%. Across the Southwest, encounters are down 7%.

The Washington Office on Latin America, a research and human rights advocacy organization, said increased migrant enforcement in Mexico is most responsible for the drop in encounters at the border.

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