Unlawful border crossings drop for 5th straight month, reaching lowest level since September 2020

Sasabe, Arizona — Unlawful crossings by migrants along the U.S. southern border dropped for the fifth consecutive month in July, plunging to the lowest level since the fall of 2020, internal government figures obtained by CBS News show.

U.S. Border Patrol agents made fewer than 60,000 migrant apprehensions between official points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, the lowest number since September 2020, when the agency reported 54,000 apprehensions, according to the preliminary Customs and Border Protection data.

In December, during a record-breaking spike in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border that overwhelmed agents in parts of Texas and Arizona, Border Patrol reported 250,000 apprehensions, or over four times July's tally.