geopolitical
U.S. Border Encounters (Nationwide)
Latest
34,428encounters per month
Methodology
## What this measures
Every encounter U.S. Customs and Border Protection records in a month, at all borders, ports of entry and airports.
## Why it matters
It is the most direct monthly measure of migration pressure at U.S. borders, and of how policy changes affect it.
## How to read it
Compare with a year earlier. Encounters peaked above 300,000 a month in late 2023 and fell sharply in 2024–25.
## What it does not say
Encounters count events, not people: one person caught twice counts twice. They include Title 8 apprehensions, inadmissibles at ports of entry and, before May 2023, Title 42 expulsions. They do not count people who crossed undetected.
## Source
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Nationwide Encounters, monthly encounter counts by fiscal year, stitched from the rolling four-year CSV files on cbp.gov (Stats and Summaries). Palanor re-reads the latest file every day. CBP information is in the public domain; source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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