THE CENTER SQUARE—There were nearly 565,000 illegal border crossers reported in Arizona in fiscal year 2024, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Arizona’s 378 miles of shared border with Mexico is staffed by CBP and Border Patrol agents in the sectors of Tucson and Yuma.
The Tucson sector’s 262-mile shared border extends from the Yuma County line to the Arizona-New Mexico state line. The Yuma sector’s nearly 182,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain extends from Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line.
The Tucson sector has historically been one of the busiest along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fiscal 2024, Border Patrol agents reported 463,567 illegal border crossers, according to the data. That’s the most of any sector along the southwest border during the federal government’s fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
The second-greatest number, nearly 325,000, was reported by Border Patrol agents in the San Diego sector, The Center Square reported.
Tucson Office of Field Operations agents also reported 47,051 illegal border crossers in fiscal 2024, significantly less than San Diego OFO’s 183,890 over the same period.
In CBP’s Yuma sector, Border Patrol agents reported 53,877 illegal border crossers. Because of the sector’s vast desert, large drifting sand dunes, mountainous terrain, ever-changing Colorado River, and temperatures exceeding 120 degrees, Border Patrol agents in Yuma often rescue illegal border crossers in distress.
Combined, apprehensions in Arizona totaled at least 564,495 in fiscal 2024 excluding “gotaways,” those who illegally entered and evaded capture. Data for both sectors is consistent with nationwide data: the overwhelming majority of illegal border crossers are single adults coming from all over the world.
In the Tucson sector’s Cochise County, Sheriff Mark Dannels says despite numerous requests, he’s never met with President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris the entire time they’ve been in office as his rural county has been pummeled with illegal border crossers and cartel-related crime.
“My community’s frustrated over the last three and a half years with what we’ve dealt with … when it comes to crime and the policies that have failed this country, the policies [that] have failed our citizens, and the tragedies that my neighbors are addressing silently, because nobody’s listening,” said Dannels, who is also chairman of the National Sheriff’s Association for Border Security.
Over a 31-month period, his office booked 3,762 people in the county jail for border-related crimes, Dannels said.
“These are not immigration issues,” the sheriff said. “These are border-related crimes, with double-digit murders.”
In an investigation led by the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Border Patrol chiefs in Arizona expressed concerns about gotaways and national security risks.
Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin said, “When we make an arrest, we can then vet that person and find out, if they have a criminal history, if there are national security concerns. Gotaways are a public safety concern … potentially a national security concern.”
“The smuggling organizations to our south are very well organized and resourceful,” Modlin said, referring to Mexican cartels. “Each and every person crossing through the Tucson sector must pay these criminal organizations. The migrants we encounter are completely outfitted in camouflage by the smuggling organizations before they cross. Most run from and fight our agents to avoid apprehension. Many are previously deported felons who know they are inadmissible to the United States and many pose a serious threat to our communities.”
Modlin also expressed concerns about having to pull agents from other areas to deal with surges, a practice used across sectors, The Center Square reported. Yuma Sector Deputy Chief Dustin Caudle said the sector’s three interior checkpoints are critical for interdicting gotaways, but the majority of fiscal 2022 and most of fiscal 2023 those checkpoints were down, meaning the border was wide open and unmanned.
As Border Patrol agents were inundated with surges of illegal border crossers and given time frames to process and release them into the country under Biden-Harris administration policies, background checks and vetting weren’t always performed and individuals on the terrorist watch list were released into the country, according to congressional investigations and Office of Inspector General reports.
Americans living more than 2,600 miles away are also suffering consequences. Crimes committed in New England can be traced back to foreign nationals who illegally entered the country in Arizona, The Center Square reported.
Despite ongoing challenges, federal, state, and local law enforcement agents in Arizona have seized a record amount of fentanyl in the past few years, enough to kill billions of people.
Earlier this year, Customs and Border Protection agents seized half a ton of fentanyl at the Lukeville port of entry in the Tucson sector, the largest fentanyl seizure in CBP history. With 2 milligrams considered a lethal dose, and 22,696.2 lethal doses in a pound, agents seized more than 453 million lethal doses, enough to kill roughly the entire population of the U.S. and Mexico.
Arizona parents who’ve lost children to fentanyl, such as Josephine Dunn, have called on the Arizona Legislature and Congress to act, The Center Square reported.
As the Biden-Harris administration escalated flights of illegal foreign nationals into the country, Arizona’s border apprehensions were down in fiscal 2024 compared to the more than 775,000 reported in fiscal 2023, The Center Square first reported.
