JULY 2011

Fact Sheet

Office of Immigration Statistics

POLICY DIRECTORATE

Apprehensions by the U.S. Border 

Patrol: 2005–2010

LESLEY SAPP

Apprehension statistics are one of the few indicators of illegal entry into or presence in the United 

States. This Office of Immigration Statistics Fact Sheet provides information on recent trends in U.S. 

Border Patrol apprehensions and the gender, age, country of nationality, and geographic location 

of persons apprehended between 2005 and 2010.1

Data beginning in 2005 were obtained from the 

Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) of the 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS). For prior 

years, data were obtained from the Performance Analysis 

System (PAS) of DHS.

1 In this report, years refer to fiscal years (October 1 through September 30).

DEFINING BORDER APPREHENSIONS 

Apprehension statistics measure the number of foreign 

nationals who are caught being in the United States illegally. Persons apprehended are subject to removal from 

the United States for violating the Immigration and 

Nationality Act. The vast majority of apprehensions, 

occurring at or near U.S. borders shortly after an illegal 

entry, are made by the Border Patrol of U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection (CBP) of DHS. Apprehensions 

beyond U.S. borders, involving foreign nationals illegally present in the United States who may have entered 

without inspection (EWI) or entered legally but lost 

their legal status, are handled primarily by U.S. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of DHS.

Apprehension data collected by DHS represent events, 

not individuals. The total number of apprehensions during a specific period will be greater than the total number of unique individuals apprehended because some 

individuals will have been apprehended more than 

once. The relationship between the number of border 

apprehensions to either the number of attempted illegal 

entries or the number of successful illegal entries 

is unknown. 

OVERALL TREND 

The number of Border Patrol apprehensions declined 61 

percent from 1,189,000 in 2005 to 463,000 in 2010 

(see Figure 1). The decrease in apprehensions between 

2005 and 2010 may be due to a number of factors 

including changes in U.S. economic conditions and border enforcement efforts. Border apprehensions in 2010 

were at their lowest level since 1972. Apprehensions 

previously peaked at 1,676,000 in 2000. The all-time 

apprehension record was 1,693,000 in 1986 immediately preceding passage of the Immigration Reform and 

Control Act (IRCA), which allowed the legalization of 

several million unauthorized immigrants, established 

sanctions for employers who knowingly hired unauthorized immigrants, and provided for increased 

border enforcement. 
2 DHS Office of Immigration Statistics

DEMOGRAPHICS 

Ninety-seven percent of apprehensions by the Border Patrol in 

2010 occurred at the southwest border (see Table 1). The distribution of apprehensions by border location was unchanged between 

2005 and 2010. Nearly 86 percent of persons apprehended in 

2010 were male, up from 82 percent in 2005. Persons aged 24 

and under accounted for 39 percent of all apprehensions in 2010, 

down from 47 percent in 2005. Foreign nationals aged 25 to 44 

accounted for 55 percent of apprehensions in 2010, up from 48 

percent in 2005. 

Mexican nationals accounted for 87 percent of all apprehensions in 

2010, down from 92 percent in 2007 but up from 86 percent in 

2005. The next leading countries of nationality were Honduras, El 

Salvador, and Guatemala. Together, these four countries accounted 

for 98 percent of all Border Patrol apprehensions from 2005 to 

2010. Between 2005 and 2008, the percentage of persons apprehended from Honduras, El Salvador, and Brazil declined substantially, reflecting the end of “catch and release,” the practice of 

apprehending non-Mexican illegal aliens and releasing them on 

their own recognizance pending a removal hearing. 

Table 1. 

U.S. Border Patrol Apprehensions by Border, Age, Gender and Leading Country of Nationality: Fiscal Years 2005 to 2010

2010 2009 2008 2007* 2006* 2005*

Characteristic Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Border

 Total ................. 463,382 100.0 556,032 100.0 723,840 100.0 876,803 100.0 1,089,096 100.0 1,189,031 100.0 

Southwest .............. 447,731 96.6 540,851 97.3 705,022 97.4 858,737 97.9 1,071,979 98.4 1,171,391 98.5

Coastal ................ 8,220 1.8 8,374 1.5 10,895 1.5 11,687 1.3 10,521 1.0 10,291 0.9

Northern ............... 7,431 1.6 6,807 1.2 7,923 1.1 6,379 0.7 6,596 0.6 7,349 0.6

Gender

 Total ................. 463,382 100.0 556,032 100.0 723,840 100.0 876,803 100.0 1,089,096 100.0 1,189,031 100.0 

Male .................. 397,198 85.7 469,994 84.5 606,761 83.8 730,217 83.3 893,380 82.0 969,879 81.6

Female ................ 66,173 14.3 86,023 15.5 117,061 16.2 146,574 16.7 195,699 18.0 219,123 18.4

Unknown ............... 11 — 15 — 18 — 12 — 17 — 29 —

Age

 Total ................. 463,382 100.0 556,032 100.0 723,840 100.0 876,803 100.0 1,089,096 100.0 1,189,031 100.0 

17 years and under ....... 31,291 6.8 40,461 7.3 59,578 8.2 77,778 8.9 101,778 9.3 114,222 9.6

18 to 24 years ........... 148,969 32.1 182,740 32.9 257,409 35.6 325,901 37.2 403,320 37.0 442,755 37.2

25 to 34 years ........... 173,763 37.5 205,173 36.9 255,261 35.3 301,002 34.3 377,401 34.7 411,743 34.6

35 to 44 years ........... 82,236 17.7 95,922 17.3 112,941 15.6 127,285 14.5 151,422 13.9 162,069 13.6

45 to 54 years ........... 22,981 5.0 26,668 4.8 32,003 4.4 36,661 4.2 45,001 4.1 47,158 4.0

55 years and over ........ 4,125 0.9 5,029 0.9 6,235 0.9 7,384 0.8 9,093 0.8 9,569 0.8

Unknown ............... 17 — 39 — 413 0.1 792 0.1 1,081 0.1 1,515 0.1

Country of Nationality

 Total ................. 463,382 100.0 556,032 100.0 723,840 100.0 876,803 100.0 1,089,096 100.0 1,189,031 100.0 

Mexico ................ 404,365 87.3 503,379 90.5 661,773 91.4 808,773 92.2 981,069 90.1 1,023,888 86.1 

Guatemala .............. 18,406 4.0 15,575 2.8 16,395 2.3 17,337 2.0 19,925 1.8 22,594 1.9 

El Salvador ............. 13,723 3.0 11,693 2.1 12,684 1.8 14,114 1.6 41,391 3.8 39,309 3.3 

Honduras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,580 2.9 14,630 2.6 19,351 2.7 22,914 2.6 28,709 2.6 52,741 4.4 

Ecuador ................ 1,777 0.4 1,313 0.2 1,579 0.2 958 0.1 1,143 0.1 1,343 0.1 

Dominican Republic ....... 1,330 0.3 865 0.2 819 0.1 562 0.1 1,023 0.1 1,406 0.1 

China, People’s Republic .... 1,157 0.2 1,499 0.3 836 0.1 837 0.1 2,179 0.2 2,200 0.2 

Nicaragua .............. 909 0.2 975 0.2 1,467 0.2 1,646 0.2 2,736 0.3 3,921 0.3 

Brazil .................. 812 0.2 798 0.1 977 0.1 1,214 0.1 1,460 0.1 31,063 2.6 

Cuba .................. 712 0.2 910 0.2 3,351 0.5 4,295 0.5 4,021 0.4 3,263 0.3 

Canada ................ 690 0.1 490 0.1 610 0.1 554 0.1 876 0.1 1,020 0.1 

All other countries, including 

 unknown .............. 5,921 1.3 3,905 0.7 3,998 0.6 3,599 0.4 4,564 0.4 6,283 0.5 

*Data as of November–December 2008.

— Figure rounds to 0.0.

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Border Patrol (OBP). CBP Border Patrol data for 2010 are current as of December 2010, 2009 are current as of December 2009, 2008 are current as of December 2008.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about immigration and immigration statistics, visit the Department of Homeland Security web site at http:// 

www.dhs.gov/immigrationstatistics.