U.S. Customs and Border Protection on April 8 released operational statistics for March.

“CBP has experienced an increase in encounters and arrests. This is not new. Encounters have continued to increase since April 2020, and our past experiences have helped us be better prepared for the challenges we face this year,” said CBP Senior Official Troy Miller. “We are committed to balancing the need to maintain border security, care for those in our custody, and keep the American people and our workforce safe.”

In March, CBP encountered more than 172,000 individuals attempting entry along the Southwest border. This represented a 71% increase over February.

The number of encounters has been rising since April 2020 because of violence, natural disasters, and poverty in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Central America. This fiscal year CBP has already had over 569,800 encounters, an increase of 24% from all of fiscal year 2020, and an increase of over 34% from about the same time frame in 2019.

The majority of the encounters remained single adults. CBP continues to expel single adults and family units that are encountered pursuant to Center for Disease Control guidance under Title 42 authority, which prohibits the introduction of communicable disease into the U.S. In March, 103,900 individuals were expelled under Title 42, 28% of whom had been previously expelled from the U.S. under the same authority. Title 42 expulsions represented 60% of the total encounters for the month.

CBP continues to see a significant increase of unaccompanied children from Central America at the Southwest border, with 18,890 in March, a 100% increase over February.

Although less than 11% of encounters in March were unaccompanied children, they make up the largest demographic group in custody at CBP facilities. CBP works closely with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials to quickly transfer processed unaccompanied children to care provider facilities. As bed capacity at these facilities has expanded, the 30-day average of children transferred out of CBP custody has increased, from 276 at the end of February to 507 at the end of March.

CBP recently saw a return to large groups, especially in the Rio Grande Valley region. These groups of 100 or more individuals had dropped dramatically due to the pandemic, but as of the end of March, CBP recorded 49 large groups in fiscal year 2021, totaling over 4,700 individuals.