The US government uses the term “encounter” to encompass noncitizen apprehensions and determinations of inadmissibility, whether at the border or a port of entry. So defined, migrant encounters are up this year*, continuing a three-year trend:
What’s going on here? I’m guessing the surge in encounters has to do with the relative ease of remaining in the US after the initial contact with US border agents, what would be called a “pull factor” for migrants. For example, the US government simply loses track of many migrants once they’re released from custody:
“Based on our review of 981,671 migrant records documented by USBP [US Border Patrol] from March 2021 through August 2022, addresses for more than 177,000 migrant records were either missing, invalid for delivery, or not legitimate residential locations.” - DHS Does Not Have Assurance That All Migrants Can be Located Once Released into the United States Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security, September 6, 2023
And the immigration court system can’t handle the load:
“The U.S. immigration court system is struggling with backlogs that have swelled to a record 1.9 million cases—with more than 700,000 added last year alone. The result is that cases, more than 40 percent of which are claims for asylum, take years to adjudicate—depriving people eligible for relief of decisions, undermining the effectiveness of immigration enforcement, and incentivizing unauthorized arrivals.” - Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in Crisis. Migration Policy Institute, July 20, 2023.
Even if a hearing is held, a good number of migrants don’t show up in court: per the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the “in absentia” rate has averaged 34% in 2023 so far and it appears to be trending higher.
What to do? Fix the system that handles unauthorized migrants (mostly by a massive increase in staffing levels) and allow more migrants to come here legally.
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* The Enforcement Statistics report indicated it covered Fiscal Year 2023 (October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2023), but the data table (on which my chart is based) referred to “FY23YTD”, ie, year-to-date. Based on other sources of data, I believe the 2023 numbers only go through August 2023.