U.S. border apprehensions of Mexicans fall to historic lows

The recent increase in non-Mexican apprehensions is due in part to a surge in unaccompanied Central American child migrants crossing the border without their parents. In fiscal year 2014, nearly 52,000 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border, more than double the total from the previous year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. By contrast, the number of unaccompanied Mexican children apprehended slightly declined over the same time period, from 17,000 to 16,000.

The new Border Patrol apprehensions data reflect a broader ongoing shift in the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population that was shaped by a migration wave from Mexico that lasted from the 1980s until the Great Recession. Mexico remains the top country of origin for the nation’s unauthorized immigrants, but their numbers have declined since 2007, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Despite the decline, the estimated 5.9 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico still account for a majority (52%) of the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population.

As numbers have fallen, unauthorized immigrants from other parts of the world are steady or on the rise. The unauthorized immigrant population from Central America, Asia, the Caribbean and the rest of the world grew slightly from 2009 to 2012. Over this time period, the number of unauthorized immigrants from Central America grew by 100,000. There was a similar increase in unauthorized immigrants from Asia.