The history of U.S. border apprehensions

President Trump addressed the nation Tuesday night about what he calls, “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border. As the government shutdown persists, here’s what we know about migration into the United States and what’s happening at the U.S.- Mexico border.

Figures released by the Department of Homeland Security show nationwide apprehensions of migrants entering the country without authorization are at some of their lowest numbers in decades. The U.S. Border Patrol states on its website that these numbers do not include individuals met at ports of entry looking to enter legally, but are determined to be inadmissible, or individuals seeking humanitarian protection under U.S. law.

U.S. Border Patrol took just over 400,000 people illegally entering the United States into custody in 2018, down from the second-high of 1.67 million in 2000.

The Washington Post Fact Checker Salvador Rizzo reported that most of these declines have come, “partly because of technology upgrades; tougher penalties in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; a decline in migration rates from Mexico; and a sharp increase in the number of Border Patrol officers.”

The first iteration of current fencing along the U.S.-Mexico took place during the 1990s where the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton authorized the construction of fencing along the California-Mexico border. Then, in 2006, President George W. Bush expanded the border fence by signing the Secure Fence Act into law, which authorized the construction of a fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.