CBP Releases November 2021 Monthly Operational Update

WASHINGTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today released operational statistics for November 2021, which can be viewed online here.

“CBP’s November Monthly Operational Update reflects an incredible amount of work on behalf of the American people to keep dangerous drugs and products out of our communities, to facilitate travel and billions of dollars in trade, and to maintain security along our borders,” said CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus. “It’s an honor to lead a workforce who's mission is so vital to our economic health and national security. CBP's vigilance is key to disrupting smugglers and transnational criminal organizations as they exploit vulnerable populations and attempt to traffic illegal and dangerous products.”

CBP Southwest Border Enforcement Numbers for November 2021

A large number of expulsions during the pandemic has contributed to a higher than usual number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts, which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border.

• The number of unique individuals encountered in November 2021 was 127,653, a 10% increase in the number of unique individuals encountered the prior month.

• In total, there were 173,620 encounters along the Southwest border, a 5% increase compared to October. Of those, 25% involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 13% for FY2014-2019.
• Two-thirds (66%) of encounters were single adults, with 114,419 encounters in November, a 5% increase compared to October.
• 87,341 encounters, more than 50% of the total, were processed for expulsion under Title 42 in November. 86,279 encounters were processed under Title 8.
  • 75,955 encounters involving single adults (66% of all single adult encounters) were processed for expulsion under Title 42, with 38,464 processed under Title 8.
  • 11,155 encounters involving family unit individuals (25% of all family unit individuals) were processed for expulsion under Title 42, with 33,784 processed under Title 8.

Unaccompanied Children

• Encounters of unaccompanied children increased 9%, with 13,959 encounters in November compared with 12,783 in October. In November, the average number of unaccompanied children in CBP custody was 962 per day, compared with an average of 595 per day in October.

Family Unit individuals

• Encounters of family unit individuals increased by 5% from 42,795 in October to 44,939 in November—which was approximately half the peak of 86,631 in August 2021.