Ari Lamstein: Visualizing 25 y... Note

Ari Lamstein: Visualizing 25 years of Border Patrol Data with Python

A Streamlit app visualizing US immigration enforcement data revealed a surprising dip in CBP detentions during Trump's presidency. A DHS statistician suggested this might reflect fewer attempted illegal border crossings. This hypothesis was explored using US Border Patrol (USBP) encounter data as a proxy for attempted crossings. The dataset, spanning from October 1999 to November 2024, tracks encounters with removable aliens. Analysis focused on monthly encounters at the Southwest Land Border, which accounts for the vast majority. Visualizations showed a significant increase in encounters coinciding with the transition to the Biden administration. This spike contrasts with the lower numbers observed early in the Trump administration. The author speculates these shifts might correlate with the differing immigration policies of the two administrations. Future plans include integrating this analysis into the Streamlit app and exploring more granular data dimensions.