by Bethany Blankley
Nearly 245,000 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported as gotaways after illegally entering the southwest border in March, according to preliminary data obtained by The Center Square.
“Gotaways” refers to those known and reported to illegally enter the U.S. primarily between ports of entry, who intentionally evade capture by law enforcement and don’t return to Mexico. In March, gotaways totaled at least 74,924, with the greatest numbers reported in the Tucson Sector of Arizona, followed by the El Paso Sector, which includes all of New Mexico and two west Texas counties.
Due to a combination of factors, cartel-driven illegal entry is shifting west into Arizona and increasingly in California. However, the El Paso Sector led all southwest border sectors with the greatest number of apprehensions of at least 39,785 last month.
Despite claims made by Biden administration officials, March numbers were higher than January and February, continuing the trend where each month sees greater numbers than the previous month.
The preliminary March data was obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The agent provided the information on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation; it only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data.
February apprehensions and gotaways totaled at least 205,032 and January numbers totaled at least 215,998, according to the data. Official CBP January data and February data were higher than preliminary data first reported by The Center Square because they include Office of Field Operations data. Overall, February saw a 2% increase from January. All CBP data would be higher if gotaways were included in official data it publicizes.
As of April 3, the preliminary data for March in nine southwest border sectors include:
BIG BEND SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 1,361
- Turnbacks – 18
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 944
- Unclassifiable Detection – 10
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 189
- No Violations – 10
- Deceased – 1
- Outstanding – 83
DEL RIO SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 24,715
- Turnbacks –316
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 11,867
- Unclassifiable Detection – 79
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 3,933
- No Violations – 116
- Deceased – 6
- Outstanding – 117
EL CENTRO SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 5,296
- Turnbacks – 374
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 321
- Unclassifiable Detection – 0
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 12
- No Violations – 2
- Deceased – 0
- Outstanding – 7
EL PASO SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 39,785
- Turnbacks – 5,871
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 17,423
- Unclassifiable Detection – 15
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 354
- No Violations – 66
- Deceased – 1
- Outstanding – 29
LAREDO SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 5,433
- Turnbacks – 3,550
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 2,097
- Unclassifiable Detection – 15
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 663
- No Violations – 242
- Deceased – 2
- Outstanding – 0
RGV SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 18,445
- Turnbacks – 3,582
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 2,077
- Unclassifiable Detection – 54
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 976
- No Violations – 117
- Deceased – 4
- Outstanding – 0
SAN DIEGO SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 24,413
- Turnbacks – 326
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 5,287
- Unclassifiable Detection – 4
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 4,207
- No Violations – 20
- Deceased – 1
- Outstanding – 90
TUCSON SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 35,610
- Turnbacks – 702
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 17,821
- Unclassifiable Detection – 110
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 5,231
- No Violations – 230
- Deceased – 3
- Outstanding – 320
YUMA SECTOR
- Apprehensions – 14,784
- Turnbacks – 132
- Gotaways Border Zone (known/recorded) – 1,388
- Unclassifiable Detection – 4
- Gotaways Interior Zone – 134
- No Violations – 19
- Deceased – 1
- Outstanding – 145
Apprehensions refer to those who illegally enter the U.S. and surrender or are caught by BP agents. Turnbacks refer to those who illegally enter but return to Mexico. The gotaway data reflects 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. This, and a now deleted category of “no arrests,” were used as a way to lower the number of gotaways being reported, the Border Patrol agent told The Center Square.
“No arrests” meant someone “was detected in a non-border zone and their presence didn’t affect Got-Away statistics,” according to the official internal tracking system used by agents to record data. “Unclassifiable detection” means the same thing, but the 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 tracking system.
No-violations and unclassifiable detection should be categorized as gotaways, the Border Patrol agent explained, assuming all non-arrests were of non-citizens. However, each sector also uses unclassified detection differently, the agent added, so how the numbers are categorized isn’t uniform. If these two categories were included as gotaways, the total gotaway number for March would be closer to 76,037.
However, these numbers still don’t tell the whole story, those in law enforcement have explained to The Center Square, because they don’t include unknown and unrecorded gotaways. Not all gotaways are recorded because not all are identified, meaning the number of those illegally entering the U.S. is expected to be much greater than reported.
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Illegal Aliens Apprehended by Yuma Sector Border Patrol Agents” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
