Among them, agents arrested 8,452 identified in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) compared to 10,389 arrested in fiscal 2022 and 5,929 arrested in fiscal 2018.
If the current trajectory continues, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations agents are on track this fiscal year to arrest the greatest number of illegal foreign nationals with criminal convictions in recorded history.
By contrast, Border Patrol apprehensions of gang members and weapons seizures are down significantly, and a former border chief tells The Center Square those numbers are down because far fewer agents are in the field – between ports of entries – to make such seizures and apprehensions.
The majority of people with criminal convictions who are being apprehended and arrested are being caught at ports of entry, according to CBP enforcement data, where OFO agents work. Fiscal year to date, OFO agents encountered more than 15,000 people with criminal convictions, up from roughly 6,500 in fiscal 2021. In fiscal 2022, they apprehended nearly 17,000.
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