The U.S. Border Patrol made 152,229 apprehensions along the southwest border during February 2001, a 28 percent decrease when compared to February 2000. Voluntary returns conducted by Border Patrol agents decreased by 29 percent to 148,404. For the first five months of FY 2001, apprehensions and voluntary returns were down 24 and 25 percent respectively, when compared to the same period in FY 2000. 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 decrease 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 through December 2000 showed the expected seasonal pattern of decrease, while January and February apprehensions showed the expected seasonal rise. Nevertheless, apprehensions decreased by 153,424 compared to the first five months of FY 2000. In FY 2000, Central American apprehensions on the southwest border reached 23,092, a decrease of 6,023 when compared to the previous year. For the first five months of FY 2001, southwest border Central American apprehensions reached 7,550 a decrease of 19 percent compared to the same period in FY 2000.