January border arrests hit lowest level in over four years

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This photo provided by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent watches as undocumented immigrants are loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Ariz. Dept. of Defense via Associated Press / Photo by Senior Airman Devlin Bishop

January border arrests hit lowest level in over four years

U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month arrested 61,465 illegal migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a Tuesday report. Border patrol officials apprehended just over 29,000 people along the border itself and more than 32,300 at ports of entry. The figure is the lowest it has been since May 2020 and the number of apprehensions from Jan. 21-31 dropped 85% compared to the same period last year.

The daily number of encounters with illegal immigrants at the border has dropped dramatically in recent weeks, according to U.S. Border Czar Thomas Homan. Authorities stepped up efforts to secure the country’s southern border after President Donald Trump signed executive orders calling for illegal migrants to be removed and declaring a national emergency at the border.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s report in Compassion about whether immigration officers are going to churches to deport illegal immigrants.

Lauren Canterberry

Lauren Canterberry is a reporter for WORLD. She graduated from the World Journalism Institute and the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism, both in 2017. She worked as a local reporter in Texas and now lives in Georgia with her husband.