When you read about the border crisis, small words make a big difference. You’ve likely heard about the surge in migrant “encounters” at the border. And there are a lot of these—more than 2.
1 million in fiscal year 2023[1] —so it’s a handy way for the agency to request a bigger enforcement budget. But here’s the thing: an “encounter” is any person who is questioned by agents, or anyone whose documentation is run through the system. It’s not anywhere close to the number of people they actually “apprehend” or arrest.
According to an analysis of Border Patrol data by Syracuse University, the average Border Patrol agent now apprehends a whopping six to seven people per month. These are individuals who agents suspect have a criminal record, are smuggling drugs into the country, are terror suspects or are trying to sneak by instead of presenting themselves for an official asylum request. These people do exist, but it’s not an everyday occurrence for the vast majority of agents.
So why does Border Patrol use “encounter”? Because they want the public to believe the border is being overrun with criminals instead of regular people seeking asylum or economic opportunity. In fact, the number of apprehensions has declined dramatically over time—a reduction of 83 percent from the mid 1990’s, when I was a Border Patrol agent, to just 21 apprehensions per agent last year. The real “crisis” at the Southern border is the lack of resources to help migrants .