The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20240105195053/https://www.wsj.com/us-news/illegal-immigration-record-border-6db29cad

Illegal Immigration Is a Bigger Problem Than Ever. These Five Charts Explain Why.

Record numbers of migrants are coming with children and from countries they can’t be deported back to, overwhelming U.S. authorities

Illegal border encounters, annual

Title 42 ends

Mexican financial crisis

2007-09 recession

2.0

million

Covid pandemic.

Title 42 implemented.

Reagan amnesty

9/11

1.5

Remain in Mexico

implemented

1.0

0.5

0

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Illegal border encounters, annual

Title 42 ends

Mexican financial crisis

2007-09 recession

2.0

million

Covid pandemic.

Title 42 implemented.

Reagan amnesty

9/11

1.5

Remain in Mexico

implemented

1.0

0.5

0

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Illegal border encounters, annual

Title 42 ends

Mexican financial crisis

2007-09 recession

2.0

million

Covid pandemic.

Title 42 implemented.

Reagan amnesty

9/11

1.5

Remain in Mexico

implemented

1.0

0.5

0

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Illegal border encounters, annual

Title 42 ends

Mexican financial

crisis

Covid pandemic.

Title 42 implemented.

2.0

million

2007-09

recession

Reagan amnesty

9/11

1.5

Remain in

Mexico

implemented

1.0

0.5

0

1980

’90

2000

’10

’20

Illegal border encounters, annual

Title 42 ends

Mexican financial

crisis

Covid pandemic.

Title 42 implemented.

2.0

million

2007-09

recession

Reagan amnesty

9/11

1.5

Remain in

Mexico

implemented

1.0

0.5

0

1980

’90

2000

’10

’20

Note: Data are for fiscal years and only include encounters along the southern land border.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Historically high numbers of people are illegally entering the U.S., straining an immigration system already overwhelmed by the number of families coming across the border to request asylum.

Border agents made 2.05 million arrests in the federal fiscal year that ended in September, new government data show, the second year in a row that figure has exceeded two million. In the past, the numbers have risen and fallen based on significant economic and policy changes like recessions and pandemic-era border restrictions. But they never exceeded 1.7 million and never stayed at an elevated level as long as they have the past few years.

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