Border encounters in Arizona reach lowest numbers on record
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — Migrant encounters in the Tucson and Yuma sectors have plummeted just two months into President Trump’s strict immigration policy changes.
Arizona’s Family Investigates has been tracking migrant encounters in those sectors for more than 20 years. The latest numbers from February are the lowest amount we’ve seen.
Last month, the Tucson sector saw 1,336 encounters and the Yuma sector saw 243. For Tucson, that’s a 97.3% decrease since February 2024. Yuma also had a decrease of 95.1% compared to the same time last year.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Border Patrol Yuma Sector had a single day with only one reported apprehension. Before President Trump took office, Yuma saw around 40 apprehensions a day, but now, that number is almost zero.
Yuma Border Patrol Chief Justin De La Torre said agents have been shifting their focus. “Agents are able to spend their time looking for threats, looking for any violations of federal law. If we have a day where there are zero detections of illegal entries, that’s a very good thing,” he said.
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De La Torre said most undocumented individuals who enter the U.S. through Yuma are headed north to the interior of the country.
“Border security in Yuma, the city of Yuma, Yuma County, it impacts the entire country,” he said.
A Phoenix Immigration Attorney, Sheree Wright, said she’s noticed the decline in her office.
“Our phones would be blowing up like crazy for deportation proceedings that were held at the border ... Now that’s not the case. We’re just taking care of immigration internally where individuals are being detained by ICE while they’re here but not border entries,” said Wright.
She attributes the plummeting number of encounters to President Trump’s asylum ban at the border. She said the suspension is threatening the lives of people who are fleeing their country for safety.
“The fear is that now that they don’t have a safe haven like America to let them in, provide them with asylum or refugee status then they’re left to die,” said Wright.
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