News

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released operational statistics for May 2021

CBP Enforcement Numbers

In May 2021, CBP encountered 180,034 persons attempting entry along the Southwest Border. This total represented a 1 percent increase over April 2021.

Single adults continue to make up the majority of these encounters. In May 2021, CBP expelled 112,302 individuals under Title 42. CBP continues to expel single adults and family units that are encountered pursuant to CDC guidance under Title 42 authority. 62 percent of all May encounters resulted in a Title 42 expulsion.

Encounters along the Southwest Border of unaccompanied children and single minors from Northern Triangle countries dropped again this month by 23 percent, with 10,765 encounters in May 2021 compared with 13,940 in April 2021. Encounters of family units from Northern Triangle countries also dropped again, decreasing by 31 percent to 22,630 in May 2021, down from 32,674 in April. 

The large number of expulsions during the pandemic has contributed to a larger-than-usual number of noncitizens making multiple border crossing attempts, and means total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border. Thirty-eight percent of encounters in May 2021 were individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 15 percent for Fiscal Years 2014-2019.