More than 525,000 illegal border crossers were reported in California in fiscal year 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. data.

This excludes those who entered illegally and evaded capture, known as escapees. CBP does not publish data on escapades. Center Square first reported data on the escapades in 2021 after obtaining it from a Border Patrol agent. In fiscal year 2023, more than 101,000 escapades were reported in California’s two sectors and nearly 413,000 arrests, according to The Center Square. exclusively reported.

Getaway data for fiscal year 2024 is forthcoming, but if trends continue as in the past, the total number of reported illegal crossers in California, including arrests and getaways, is expected to exceed 625,000 over the course of fiscal 2024. That’s up from nearly 514,000 combined in fiscal 2023.

The data also excludes inadmissible people released to California under a dozen parole programs created under the Biden-Harris administration and that federal judges, about half of state attorneys general and Republicans in Congress considers illegal.

California shares the smallest international border with Mexico of the four southwest border states – 137 miles. Its linear mileage is split almost equally between the El Centro and San Diego CBP sectors.

The San Diego Sector is the larger of the two sectors, covering nearly 57,000 square miles, including 931 miles of coastal border extending into Oregon. It shares 60 linear miles with Mexico by land and 114 coastal miles along the Pacific Ocean.

The area with the most foot traffic includes approximately 7,000 square miles that encompass beaches, mesas, an inland mountain range, canyons, and high desert.

Historically, the highest number of arrests have been reported in the San Diego area. In fiscal year 2024, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended at least 324,260 illegal border crossers, representing a 40% increase from their apprehensions of 230,941 during fiscal year 2024. fiscal year 2023.

The San Diego Field Operations Office reported 183,890 encounters with illegal alien nationals in fiscal year 2024, the data shows.

Aaron Heitke, now retired San Diego Sector Border Patrol chief, testified before Congress about the difficulties faced by San Diego Sector agents due to what he described as the “policy of “open borders” of the Biden-Harris administration. He is describe the impact of the need to close Border Patrol checkpoints when illegal entries peaked in July 2022 at around 16,000, with miles of border left wide open and unguarded.

He also testified about how the officers were ordered not to appear an alarming increase in the number of “aliens of special interest” and continue to struggle with unaccompanied minors suspected of being drugged, smuggled and trafficked. California agents have also expressed concern about the volume of fentanyl being dumped in the sector, with federal, state and local law enforcement seizing enough fentanyl in one year to kill billions of people.

In the El Centro Sector, Border Patrol agents apprehended 17,484 illegal border crossers in fiscal year 2024. The sector is located in Southern California’s Imperial Valley and extends 71 ​​linear miles along of the border between the United States and Mexico. Much of it is isolated and dangerous, including desert and mountainous areas where summer heat regularly exceeds 120 degrees.

El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino alarm expressed on unaccompanied children that agents save “from exploitation by smugglers”. These criminals have no connection with the children they are smuggling. These traffickers go to extreme lengths to smuggle these children, giving them sleeping pills to keep them quiet.

El Centro Border Patrol Senior Agent Gregory Bovino also says Members of Congress said a surge of more than 50,000 illegal border crossings in fiscal year 2023 has distracted agents from their primary goal, which was protecting the homeland. “Every time there is an influx of individuals tasked with caring for, feeding and caring for these individuals, Border Patrol agents are distracted from their primary job, which is to keep bad people and bad things out. to cross the border,” Bovino said.

As Texas’ border security mission, Operation Lone Star, put pressure on cartel traffickers, illegal border crossers were moved west, with the San Diego sector becoming the epicenter of the border crisis, The Center Square. first reported in February and again in April as the crisis worsened.

California also reported an increase in the number of people crossing the border illegally from China as federal agents continue to target California-based money laundering operations linked to the Sinaloa cartel, The Center Square. reported.

California sheriffs have voiced their opposition to Vice President Kamala Harris’ border policy, saying, “we don’t support it.” reported. A sheriff said Members of Congress that the policies of the Biden-Harris administration and Governor Gavin Newsom have turned California into “open territory where the cartel can do whatever it wants.”

Combined, arrests in the two California sectors totaled at least 525,634, not including escapes. Data for both sectors is consistent with national data: the overwhelming majority of people crossing borders illegally are single adults from around the world.