(The Center Square) – Preliminary data obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Border Patrol agent show apprehensions and gotaways at the southern border total 247,330 in June.
This includes 197,321 encounters/apprehensions and at least 50,009 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.
Last month, 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 excludes gotaways, which totaled 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. The totals all exclude gotaway data.
As in nearly all months, the Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley sectors in Texas experienced the most traffic last month.
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 based on the preliminary data obtained by The Center Square.
Big Bend Sector
Apps – 2,264
TBs – 35
Got Aways (known/recorded)- 755
Unresolved Detection – 18
No Arrest – 81
Deceased -3
Non-violation -10
Outstanding -35
Del Rio Sector
Apps – 46,216
TBs – 125
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 11,435
Unresolved Detection – 113
No Arrest – 2,425
Deceased -17
Non-violation -162
Outstanding -87
El Centro Sector
Apps – 6,416
TBs – 442
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 658
Unresolved Detection – 0
No Arrest – 2
Deceased – 3
Non-violation – 0
Outstanding – 9
El Paso Sector
Apps – 26,618
TBs – 3,971
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 9,031
Unresolved Detection – 20
No Arrest – 181
Deceased – 12
Non-violation – 45
Outstanding – 24
Laredo Sector
Apps – 10,201
TBs – 1,990
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 3,923
Unresolved Detection – 22
No Arrest – 1,030
Deceased – 7
Non-violation – 197
Outstanding – 1
RGV Sector
Apps – 45,085
TBs – 3,578
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 3,937
Unresolved Detection – 232
No Arrest – 3,433
Deceased – 37
Non-violation – 321
Outstanding – 81
San Diego Sector
Apps – 14,620
TBs – 493
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 4,755
Unresolved Detection – 0
No Arrest – 5,088
Deceased – 1
Non-violation – 9
Outstanding – 274
Tucson Sector
Apps – 22,185
TBs – 830
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 13,577
Unresolved Detection – 287
No Arrest – 3,061
Deceased – 16
Non-violation – 181
Outstanding – 330
Yuma Sector
Apps – 23,716
TBs – 238
Got Aways (known/recorded) – 1,938
Unresolved Detection – 25
No Arrest – 17
Deceased – 15
Non-violation – 30
Outstanding – 13
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 June would be closer to 66,973 and 90,246 in May.
