by Bethany Blankley
At least 255,212 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture after illegally entering the southwest border in September, according to preliminary Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square.
This includes at least 222,009 apprehensions and 33,203 gotaways. “Gotaways” is the official U.S. Customs and Border Protection term that refers to the number of people known and reported to illegally enter the U.S. between ports of entry who intentionally try to evade capture and don’t return to Mexico.
In September, the most gotaways were reported in the El Paso and Tucson sectors. As in August, with most Yuma agents pulled out of the field to deal with an influx of people arriving at open areas of the border wall, gotaway numbers reported by agents last month were extremely low, which is out of the ordinary.
CBP doesn’t publicly report gotaway data. The data was obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Border Patrol agent who provided it on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. It only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data. Total numbers are higher once OFO data is included.
As of Oct. 2, the preliminary data for August in the nine southwest border sectors include:
BIG BEND SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 727
- Turnbacks- 19
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 202
- Unclassifiable Detection- 0
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 50
- No Violations- 7
- Deceased- 0
- Outstanding- 56
DEL RIO SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 46,043
- Turnbacks- 105
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 3,335
- Unclassifiable Detection- 46
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 940
- No Violations- 70
- Deceased- 6
- Outstanding- 165
EL CENTRO SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 2,486
- Turnbacks- 281
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 154
- Unclassifiable Detection- 0
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 8
- No Violations- 1
- Deceased- 0
- Outstanding- 0
EL PASO SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 38,597
- Turnbacks- 2,407
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 11,845
- Unclassifiable Detection- 0
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 250
- No Violations- 3
- Deceased- 8
- Outstanding- 3
LAREDO SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 3,325
- Turnbacks- 2,831
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 1,200
- Unclassifiable Detection- 5
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 218
- No Violations- 70
- Deceased- 3
- Outstanding- 0
RIO GRANDE VALLEY SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 46,034
- Turnbacks- 2,354
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 1,406
- Unclassifiable Detection- 39
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 216
- No Violations- 80
- Deceased- 9
- Outstanding- 0
SAN DIEGO SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 26,730
- Turnbacks- 286
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 2,466
- Unclassifiable Detection- 85
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 1,821
- No Violations- 179
- Deceased- 0
- Outstanding- 162
TUCSON SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 51,793
- Turnbacks- 393
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 6,678
- Unclassifiable Detection- 62
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 2,194
- No Violations- 69
- Deceased- 9
- Outstanding- 661
YUMA SECTOR
- Apprehensions- 6,274
- Turnbacks- 90
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded)- 194
- Unclassifiable Detection- 16
- Gotaways Interior Zone- 26
- No Violations- 3
- Deceased- 1
- Outstanding- 54
Of the five stations with the most foot traffic, three were in Texas. The greatest volume was in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, followed by Ajo, Arizona, Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.
The Eagle Pass station reported at least 37,625 apprehensions and 2,108 gotaways last month; El Paso reported 26,154 apprehensions and 800 gotaways.
Ajo reported 20,673 apprehensions and 232 gotaways. Notably, Santa Teresa agents reported more gotaways (10,333) than apprehensions (9,074).
Apprehensions refer to those who illegally enter the U.S. and surrender or are caught by Border Patrol agents. Turnbacks refer to those who illegally enter but turn back to Mexico. The gotaway data indicates where foreign nationals are detected illegally entering the U.S., at the Mexican border or farther north in the interior.
Unclassifiable detection isn’t part of 6 U.S. Code, which specifies how encounters are to be reported. It means agents, for a range of reasons, couldn’t determine citizenship. No-violations are individuals “deemed to have committed no infraction and don’t affect Got-Away statistics,” according to the internal tracking system Border Patrol agents use.
The gotaway data is believed to be much higher than reported because it doesn’t include unknown and unrecorded gotaways. With the majority of agents no longer in the field, they are unable to detect how many are getting through. Agents have explained to The Center Square they have no idea how many gotaways there really are in the U.S., who or where they are.
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by John Modlin.
