Migrant crossings fall sharply along Texas border, shifting to Arizona and California

Eagle Pass, Texas — In recent weeks, the flow of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally has largely shifted away from Texas, concentrating instead in Arizona and California, where immigration officials are now recording roughly 60% of all unlawful border crossings, according to internal federal government figures obtained by CBS News.

Overall illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped sharply since soaring to a record high in December. In January, Border Patrol recorded 125,000 migrant apprehensions in between ports of entry along the southern border, compared to nearly 250,000 in December, preliminary federal data show. But the geographic trends of those migration flows have also changed dramatically.  

Over the past weeks, the Tucson sector in Arizona and the San Diego sector in California have been the busiest Border Patrol regions for migrant crossings. In both sectors, more than 1,000 migrants have been entering the U.S. illegally each day in remote desert areas like Lukeville, Arizona, and Jacumba Hot Springs, California, in recent weeks, taking advantage of gaps in the border wall or holes cut by smugglers.