PHOENIX — Data released last week by the federal government shows an uptick in migrant encounters at the southwestern border, but not the record-breaking numbers seen last year.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection data for March reports there were 191,899 migrant encounters, a 23% increase from February, but a 14% decrease from March 2022.
Compared to the past two years, 2023 is falling squarely in the middle, so far.
Data shows about half a million total encounters since January, which runs about 7% behind the record-breaking encounters from last year.
That’s not very far off, so the trends can still go either way.
The Arizona border had 48,960 encounters in March, representing a 39% rise from February encounters, but a 17% fall compared to last March.
The monthly rate of increase was higher in the Tucson sector and encounters rose annually there as well.
Encounters at the Yuma border also increased 31% monthly but have fallen a massive 58% in a year.
Why the discrepancy? Last year the majority of those crossing at the Yuma sector did not hold citizenships from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, as well as Mexico.
Those countries typically make up most encounters at Arizona’s border but declined last year relative to citizens from other countries.
In March, encounters of citizens from other countries made up 42% of migrant encounters, a 31% drop from last March.
Even with the decline in migrant encounters from non-Central American countries, several spikes were recorded in March.
The largest rise came from Chinese citizens, which were encountered at a rate of 2,155% greater than last March. Attempted crossings by Ecuadorians are up 688%.
Encounters with migrants from India, Peru, and Russia were up over 200%.
Despite the rise, encounters with citizens of these nationalities make up a small portion of total migrant encounters.
