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The composition inverted while the total fell

American Factbook Research

Published

Data retrieved

Customs and Border Protection publishes its nationwide encounters split two ways that are easy to confuse. One is the legal authority an encounter was processed under. The other is which part of the agency recorded it: the Office of Field Operations, which works the ports of entry, or the Border Patrol, which works the ground between them.

Ports of entry went from 25.7% of encounters in October 2022 to 68.2% in August 2026

Encounters each month at official ports of entry (CBP's Office of Field Operations) and between them (the Border Patrol). Both fell; the count between ports fell further, which is why the share inverted.

Source: CBP

About this chart

The figures

Ports of entry went from 25.7% of encounters in October 2022 to 68.2% in August 2026. Encounters each month at official ports of entry (CBP's Office of Field Operations) and between them (the Border Patrol). Both fell; the count between ports fell further, which is why the share inverted.
MonthAt ports of entryBetween ports
Oct 202271,415206,902
Nov 202275,128209,496
Dec 202278,375224,017
Jan 202377,431131,720
Feb 202382,364131,547
Mar 202394,403165,068
Apr 202390,887185,149
May 2023102,743172,423
Jun 2023110,851100,606
Jul 2023111,090134,064
Aug 2023121,696182,377
Sep 2023121,069220,323
Oct 2023118,570190,454
Nov 2023116,248192,357
Dec 2023119,705251,178
Jan 2024117,090125,440
Feb 2024113,967142,104
Mar 2024107,381139,124
Apr 2024116,851131,078
May 2024119,278121,646
Jun 2024117,32687,606
Jul 2024110,52559,655
Aug 202498,20960,684
Sep 202488,67355,993
Oct 202484,62758,115
Nov 202477,43847,534
Dec 202476,34548,137
Jan 202551,35230,127
Feb 202519,3729,241
Mar 202520,8208,193
Apr 202519,19010,007
May 202519,11110,359
Jun 202517,1718,014
Jul 202518,4216,168
Aug 202518,0778,085
Sep 202515,79910,203
Oct 202520,6899,947
Nov 202521,1299,294
Dec 202522,5928,122
Jan 202626,7117,921
Feb 202618,7028,278
Mar 202621,34410,118
Apr 202620,49110,867
May 202620,90111,924
Jun 202620,21211,408
Jul 202622,48811,300
Aug 202623,48910,939

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The second split is the one that has turned over. In October 2022 the ports of entry accounted for 25.7% of encounters. In August 2026 they accounted for 68.2%.

The two ends of the published series

October 2022 August 2026
Ports of entry 71,415 23,489
Between ports of entry 206,902 10,939
Total 278,317 34,428
Ports of entry, as a share 25.7% 68.2%

The share inverted because both fell, not because one rose

A share can turn over two ways, and which one happened is a different fact about the world. Here both components fell. Encounters at the ports of entry fell 67.1%; encounters between them fell 94.7%; the total fell 87.6%.

So the ports of entry are not busier than they were. They are less busy than they were, and the ground between them is very much less busy than it was, and the second fall is large enough that a minority became a majority underneath it. A reader given only the share would reasonably conclude the opposite, which is why the counts are above it rather than below.

The crossover

The first month in this series in which the ports of entry recorded more encounters than the ground between them is June 2023: 110,851 against 100,606. The series begins in October 2022 and that is the first such month on this record rather than the first that has ever occurred.

What this does not say

It does not say why. Several things changed across these months — the legal authority under which encounters were processed, the ways an appointment at a port of entry could be made, the enforcement posture on both sides of the border — and a monthly count of encounters carries no information about which of them moved it. A series that fell and a policy that changed in the same month are two facts, and this data cannot join them.

It is also not a count of people. An encounter is an event: the same person encountered twice in a month is two encounters, at either component. Every figure here is a count of events, and the fall in the total is a fall in recorded events rather than in people.

And it is not a statement about routes. The component is where an encounter was recorded. It is not where a person entered, or tried to, or intended to.

What this cannot show

  • An encounter is an event, not a person. The same person encountered twice in a month is two encounters. Nothing here is a count of people, and no figure in this brief can be read as one.
  • Encounters measure enforcement activity. They are not a measure of migration, of any population, or of how many people entered the country.
  • The two components are where an encounter was recorded. The Office of Field Operations works the ports of entry; the Border Patrol works the ground between them. Neither is a statement about a person's route or intent.
  • This brief reports what the two series did. It does not say why, and the data cannot: a monthly count carries no information about which of the many things that changed over these months moved it.
  • The series published in this file begins in October 2022. "The first month in the series" is not "the first month ever", and this data cannot support the second.
  • CBP revises published months. Every figure is as current as the snapshot it was drawn from, which is named above.

Sources

  • Nationwide Encounters, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. Government work, public domain (17 U.S.C. 105). Retrieved September 19, 2026.

Every figure above is the recorded result of a query checked into the repository alongside this text. Continuous integration re-runs those queries and refuses the change if a number here and a number there disagree. Read the methodology, or the datasets behind it.

Published by American Factbook LLC. An independent publication.