Crackdowns temporarily lowered numbers. Children and families made up 43 percent of migrants encountered. The geography of migration has undergone rapid post-pandemic shifts and moved west since the end of Title 42. Texas’s crackdown did not cause this. Migrant deaths may have declined. But deaths as a share of the migrant population have not. Fentanyl seizures dropped for the first time. It’s not clear why.

Here’s 2,000 words and 12 charts that I wrote and drafted before the Election Day cataclysm. In late October, the U.S. government published final fiscal year 2024 data about border and migration topics. I waded through all that and distilled it into five key trends:

  1. Crackdowns temporarily lowered numbers.

  1. Children and families made up 43 percent of migrants encountered.

  1. The geography of migration has undergone rapid post-pandemic shifts and moved west since the end of Title 42.  Texas’s crackdown did not cause this.

  1. Migrant deaths may have declined. But deaths as a share of the migrant population have not.

  1. Fentanyl seizures dropped for the first time. It’s not clear why.

Read the whole thing, with text explaining these graphics, at WOLA’s website.