U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 232,972 total encounters along the southwest border in August.
The data includes 181,059 encounters with illegal border crossers reported between ports of entry along the Southwest border by Border Patrol agents.
Official data excludes at least 28,355 gotaways reported by Border Patrol agents in preliminary data obtained by The Center Square earlier this month.
Including the gotaway number, total illegal border crossers apprehended or reported evading capture last month was at least 261,327. This is the greatest number reported in August in U.S. history, according to CBP data on record.
