Apprehensions at the Southwest border, which surged in the 1980s and '90s after Congress passed major immigration reforms in 1965 and 1986, have totaled less than 1 million per year since 2007.
Sources: “Total Illegal Alien Apprehensions by Fiscal Year,” U.S. Border Patrol, accessed March 11, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/3758h7vy; “Southwest Border Migration FY2020,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Nov. 19, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/2mav8zaj
Data for the graphic are as follows:
Year | Number of Border Apprehensions |
1960 | 21,022 |
1961 | 21,745 |
1962 | 21,103 |
1963 | 29,644 |
1964 | 32,519 |
1965 | 40,020 |
1966 | 62,640 |
1967 | 73,973 |
1968 | 96,641 |
1969 | 137,968 |
1970 | 201,780 |
1971 | 263,991 |
1972 | 321,326 |
1973 | 441,066 |
1974 | 571,606 |
1975 | 512,264 |
1976 | 607,499 |
1977 | 733,193 |
1978 | 789,441 |
1979 | 795,798 |
1980 | 690,554 |
1981 | 749,808 |
1982 | 745,820 |
1983 | 1,033,974 |
1984 | 1,058,276 |
1985 | 1,183,351 |
1986 | 1,615,844 |
1987 | 1,122,067 |
1988 | 942,561 |
1989 | 852,506 |
1990 | 1,049,321 |
1991 | 1,077,876 |
1992 | 1,1145,574 |
1993 | 1,212,886 |
1994 | 979,101 |
1995 | 1,271,390 |
1996 | 1,507,020 |
1997 | 1,368,707 |
1998 | 1,516,680 |
1999 | 1,537,000 |
2000 | 1,643,679 |
2001 | 1,235,718 |
2002 | 929,809 |
2003 | 905,065 |
2004 | 1,139,282 |
2005 | 1,171,396 |
2006 | 1,071,972 |
2007 | 858,638 |
2008 | 705,005 |
2009 | 540,865 |
2010 | 447,731 |
2011 | 327,577 |
2012 | 356,873 |
2013 | 414,397 |
2014 | 479,371 |
2015 | 331,333 |
2016 | 408,870 |
2017 | 303,916 |
2018 | 396,579 |
2019 | 851,508 |
2020 | 400,651 |