Is The U.S. Really Experiencing An Immigration Crisis?

U.S. President Donald Trump has made his first televised address to the nation from the Oval Office amid a government shutdown that has lasted 20 days. He reiterated that he needs funding for his controversial wall and described the situation on the border with Mexico as "a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul". Democratic leaders are opposed to providing the funding and they accused the president of using the shutdown as leverage to force construction of the wall.

Trump has described the situation as a crisis but is that really true? While the number of migrants apprehended on the border increased slightly between 2017 and 2018, apprehensions remain far below the levels recorded between the 1980s and early 2000s. The following infographic used U.S. Customs and Border Protection data to show how migrant apprehensions have fallen significantly in recent years. In FY 2018, 396,579 migrants were apprehended, far below the 1.68 million apprehensions in 2000.