The U.S. Border Patrol made 82,632 apprehensions along the southwest border during October 2000, a 10 percent decrease when compared to October 1999. Voluntary returns conducted by Border Patrol agents decreased by 10 percent to 79,933. Normally, apprehensions reach a yearly low in December followed by a strong seasonal increase in January.
Seasonal highs tend to be reached in early spring.
Apprehensions fluctuate but remain relatively high through the summer months and then start their autumn decline in September, which continues through the Christmas and New Year holidays. Southwest border apprehensions for September and October 2000 showed the expected seasonal pattern of decrease. However, apprehensions for June, July, August, September, and October 2000 are each down compared to the same months one year ago. In FY2000, Central American apprehensions on the southwest border reached 23,092, a decrease of 6,023 when compared to the previous year. For the first month of FY2001, southwest border Central American apprehensions reached 1,504 a decrease of 14 percent compared to the same period in FY2000.