Yes, people are still coming across the border, but numbers vary by route, reason, and policy shifts.
News cycles swing between talk of surges and crackdowns, so it is easy to lose track of what is actually happening at the border. For travelers, residents in border regions, and anyone following migration news, a clear picture matters. In short, crossings continue, yet the scale, routes, and reasons have changed a lot over the past few years.
Most of the public data highlighted here comes from the land border between the United States and Mexico, because that line generates the largest number of reported encounters and the most detailed statistics. At the same time, similar stories play out at borders worldwide, as people weigh risk, cost, and opportunity when they decide to move.
Are People Still Coming Across The Border? Recent Numbers And Trends
Official data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that recorded encounters rose to record levels in 2021, 2022, and 2023, then dropped sharply through 2024 and 2025. Those figures count events when agents stop, process, or turn back noncitizens at or between ports of entry, so one person can appear more than once if they try again after removal.
Across the southwest land border alone, encounters jumped from just under half a million in 2020 to well over two million in 2022. They stayed high through late 2023, before new policies in the United States and tougher enforcement in Mexico pulled the monthly totals down. Even with that drop, tens of thousands of people still reach the line each month.
| Fiscal Year | Approximate Southwest Border Encounters | Short Trend Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | About 520,000 | Increase after a low point in 2017 |
| 2019 | About 980,000 | First big spike in recent years |
| 2020 | About 460,000 | Pandemic travel limits pushed numbers down |
| 2021 | About 1.7 million | Sharp rebound as borders reopened |
| 2022 | About 2.3 million | Highest year on record at the time |
| 2023 | Roughly 2.5 million | Record monthly peak in late 2023 |
| 2024 | About 1.5 million | Drop from the 2022–23 highs |
| 2025 | About 240,000 | Lowest yearly total in decades |
These rounded figures come from a mix of CBP releases, congressional research, and independent summaries that compile the southwest land border encounter series, including the CBP Southwest Land Border Encounters dashboard. They show that while recent enforcement cut the flow, the line never went quiet. Agents kept logging encounters every day, just at far lower levels than during the record months in 2022 and 2023.
Zooming out from a single border region gives the same message. Between late 2019 and mid 2024, U.S. authorities reported close to eleven million border encounters nationwide. That number covers both the southwest and northern land borders, along with some encounters at seaports and airports, and underlines how steady cross border movement has been in this period.
What Does “Coming Across The Border” Actually Mean?
The phrase “coming across the border” can describe many different actions. Some people line up at official crossings with passports or visas, pass inspection, and enter lawfully. Others turn up without proper documents, ask for asylum, and wait while officers decide whether they can stay under national and international protection rules.
There is also a group that tries to slip through gaps between ports of entry. When agents intercept them, those events appear in the encounter statistics that fill headlines. In earlier years, most were single adults from Mexico. Recently the mix has shifted towards families with children and people from a wide range of countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.
Public discussion often treats these groups as if they were the same, yet the legal paths and outcomes differ. A tourist with a valid visa who enters by car and goes back home on time is not in the same position as a person who crosses the river, asks for asylum, and waits in a camp or shelter while their case moves through the courts.
Why People Still Come Across The Border Today
Migrants keep arriving at land borders for a mix of reasons. Some run from violence or political crackdowns. Some leave after crop failures, storms, or long slumps in local jobs. Others move to rejoin relatives, chase study opportunities, or fill open roles in service and care work in destination countries.
Networks matter as well. Once a few people from a town or district settle on the other side of a border, they send back stories, money, and tips about routes. Over time that flow shapes expectations. Even when policies tighten, those ties pull new people north or across a regional border, though the exact route and method may change.
Policy design also has a big influence. In 2023 and early 2024, for instance, U.S. authorities expanded the use of a phone app called CBP One so that many asylum seekers could book inspection appointments at official crossings instead of lining up between ports or relying on smugglers. A 2024 short read from Pew Research Center on monthly encounters noted that counts in August 2024 sat far below the December 2023 peak, after policy changes on both sides of the border. As those rules took hold, monthly encounters at the U.S.–Mexico border fell steeply, yet they did not drop to zero.
Something similar shows up worldwide. United Nations and migration agency reports track more people on the move than ever before, including millions who cross at least one international border. The routes shift as countries adjust their visa rules or close specific crossings, but the desire to move to safety or better work does not vanish.
What Travelers See At The U.S. Border Now
Most visitors who enter by land never meet the parts of the system that deal with asylum or irregular crossings. A tourist who drives from Arizona to Sonora, or a shopper who walks over a bridge from Texas into a Mexican town for the day, deals with the travel side of border management, not the enforcement side.
That said, the surge in migration and the later response still shape the experience for lawful travelers. Officers spend more time checking documents and asking simple screening questions, even for day trips. Lines at major crossings can stretch longer, and some ports now use more cameras, license plate readers, and biometric checks than in past years.
For northbound crossings into the United States, land travelers usually pass through a primary inspection booth, where an officer checks passports or border crossing cards. If the answers or records raise questions, officers can send a traveler to a secondary inspection area for deeper review, which adds both time and stress to the trip.
Southbound, inspections often focus on outbound customs rules, export controls, and checks for weapons or large sums of undeclared cash. These flows rarely show up in migration statistics, yet they still shape how safe and predictable a border feels to everyday travelers using buses, cars, and foot crossings.
How Border Trends Affect Nearby Towns And Travel Plans
Border towns feel the swings in crossings up close. When encounter numbers jumped in 2022 and 2023, shelters and local services near popular crossing points stretched to handle the extra demand. Residents saw more patrol vehicles, more checkpoints on highways near the border, and more news crews in town.
When enforcement policies changed and the recorded flow dropped in 2024 and 2025, some of that pressure eased. At the same time, business owners who serve lawful visitors noticed that traffic can dip if headlines frame the border as closed or chaotic. Perception often moves faster than statistics.
Travelers planning a road trip or bus ride that crosses a land border now tend to ask practical questions. Will the line be long? Are protests or large enforcement operations taking place near my crossing point? Will officers ask extra questions about my plans, my cash, or my phone? Careful planning cannot remove all delays, yet it can avoid surprises.
| Type Of Border Crosser | Typical Route Or Method | Current Experience |
|---|---|---|
| Tourists And Day Visitors | Drive or walk through major ports of entry | Face normal document checks and possible extra screening during peak hours |
| Cross Border Workers | Daily or weekly trips with work permits or visas | Often use trusted traveler lanes but still meet closer inspection during enforcement surges |
| Asylum Seekers Using Legal Channels | Appointment systems at ports of entry | Wait through backlogs and tighter eligibility rules, yet follow a defined process |
| People Crossing Between Ports | Remote desert paths, rivers, or coastlines | Face high physical risk, heavy surveillance, and fast removal if caught |
| Commercial Drivers | Truck lanes at freight focused ports | Deal with cargo inspections, customs paperwork, and security checks |
| Local Shoppers And Families | Short trips for errands, school, or visits | See extra patrols and random checks near the line, even away from formal ports |
For each group, the same basic pattern holds. Border crossings still happen every day, yet the mix of people and the rules they face keep shifting. Someone who last drove this route five years ago will notice new signs, extra cameras, and different questions, even if their documents and plans look the same.
Answering The Question About Border Crossings Today
In casual conversation, many news followers ask, “are people still coming across the border?” because headlines about record highs sit next to claims that the line is now sealed. The data shows that neither extreme matches reality. Recorded encounters fell from record peaks, yet they remain part of daily life along both the U.S.–Mexico and U.S.–Canada borders.
So when friends ask are people still coming across the border?, you can say that crossings continue, though policies, routes, and risks have shifted. Reported encounters in the southwest dropped from around two and a half million in 2023 to under a quarter million in 2025, yet tens of thousands of people still cross legally each day for work, study, trade, and tourism.
For travelers, the takeaway is straightforward. Expect the border to be busy, even when news stories point to falling arrest numbers. Arrive early, carry the right documents, answer questions calmly, and plan for some delay. The human desire to move has not stopped, and neither have border crossings; only the scale and shape of those movements have changed.