Desperate to fill teacher shortages, US schools are hiring teachers from overseas

(CNN)When Joevie Alvarado became a teacher, she never expected to teach American students 7,600 miles away.

But a dire shortage of US teachers means some schools are taking drastic measures -- like hiring teachers from half a world away.

"For the first year, it's a little bit of a struggle because I'm the kind of person who misses family that easily," said Alvarado, who taught for a decade in the Philippines before moving to Arizona.

But "in terms of pay, let's just say my previous pay was multiplied by eight or 10 when I got here," she said. "So having that kind of pay, it enticed me to be here."

Some parents may be surprised to learn their children are now being taught by international teachers.

Tom Trigalet, who was principal at Casa Grand Union High School when Alvarado was hired, said there's not much choice.

"When you really don't have any other applicants, how are you going to fill those spots?" Trigalet said.

But hiring teachers from overseas is only a temporary fix to a widespread problem.

A nationwide crisis

Across the US, schools are hemorrhaging teachers while fewer college graduates enter the profession.

In 2018, the US had an estimated shortage of 112,000 teachers, according to the Learning Policy Institute.

Arizona alone had 7,000 teacher vacancies going into this year, said Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association.

Some of those vacancies are filled by people who don't have a standard teaching certificate, he said. Others are being plugged by long-term substitutes, contracted agencies or teachers who must add an additional course to their day.

So schools like Casa Grande Union High have hired several Filipino teachers using J-1 visas. Those visas allow teachers to stay in the US for up to five years.

Alvarado is one of several Filipino teachers in their fourth year at Casa Grande teaching science -- a notoriously hard subject to fill with US teachers.

"People that have math and science degrees can make so much more money in research and in analytics and in other areas that their degree opens doors to," Thomas said.

"The average starting pay (for teachers) in Arizona is about $36,300."

While that salary may seem paltry for many Americans, Filipino teachers like Noel Que say their jobs in the US are much more lucrative, allowing them to live better.

"You can buy anything here -- not like back home," said Que, who teaches high school biology and biotechnology at Casa Grande

"We can eat whatever we want. We can buy whatever we want of the salary that we're getting. ... We just need to budget that salary that we're getting."

The Casa Grande Union High School District says its international teachers are on the same pay scale as its American-born teachers.

Que, like other Filipino teachers at his school, lives with roommates to cut down on expenses.

While teaching in America has brought financial rewards, there are also emotional costs.

Leaving his family behind

Que said he made the difficult decision to move from the Philippines to Arizona about four years ago.

"The economic condition in the Philippines is very different ... it's not really enough," he said.

"There is always a trade-off in everything that you want to get. I want this job (for) my family, and then the trade-off of that is I need to leave them there first."

But ultimately, Que said he made the right decision.

"I'm a family man, so it's like my responsibility to provide for my family, for my parents, also for my mom most especially," he said. "Half of my money goes back home and then half stays with me."

'We are not just certified, we are very qualified'

Que and Alvarado came to the US through one of several placement agencies that connects foreign teachers with American schools in need.

It's a booming business. In some cases, Filipino teachers pay an upfront fee, and the agency sets up the online interviews, tests and paperwork.

"The whole process just took two months for us to complete everything," Alvarado said.

Over the past decade, the number of Filipino teachers coming to the US to teach on J1 visas increased from 21 to almost 800, according to the US State Department.

But why do many Filipino teachers get selected to go to the US?

"Filipinos are very known to be patient and hardworking, and that's probably one of the reasons why mostly Filipinos are the participants of the J1 (visa) teacher program.," Alvarado said.

And unlike some teachers in the US who aren't certified in the subjects they teach, both Alvarado and Que have years of expertise in science.

It's a win-win scenario, Que said.

"It's a very good opportunity for the Filipinos to come here in America, to experience the life that we have here rather than the one that is being told to us or the one that we look at (in) the movies," he said.

"I think it is also beneficial for the state (where) the number of teachers are lacking, especially on subjects like science, math, special education, things like that," Que said.

"And they look into the Philippines, because many of our teachers are actually qualified on the subjects that they are teaching. ... We are not just certified, we are very qualified."

Learning to adapt in the US

When Que came to America, he experienced culture shock -- but in a good way.

"This is the first time that I notice that every person that you will pass by, they will ask you, 'How are you? Good morning!' Things like that," he said.

"I don't know you, why are you asking me how I am?" he joked. "We're not used to that back home."

The cultural differences were obvious in the classroom, too.

"Our students in the Philippines [are] quite different from the students that we have here," Que said.

In the Philippines, "they are very disciplined in terms of education because they look into education as how they are going to escape poverty," he said. "Discipline-wise, we don't really have a problem."

Alvarado said she also noticed more of an initial challenge when some students pushed back.

"When I came, they were like ... 'Why do (you) have to make us do this, do that?" And I was like, 'Well my dear, I am here to teach you to make you learn. I am not just here to babysit all of you.' So that was part of my struggle, classroom management," Alvarado said.

"But slowly, I get the hang of it, and I was able to adjust it and show that hey, I'm the teacher, not you. What I say, you do," she said.

Alvarado now makes all her students sign a contract on classroom policies, including cell phone use and requiring everyone be seated and ready to learn before the tardy bell rings.

"You need to get the respect, and once you do that with them, it's easy to teach American kids," she said.

Alvarado said she loves hearing students tell her she's made a positive impact on their lives.

"They come back to you and say, 'Miss, can you please be in my graduation?' Or, 'Miss can you please be in my quinceanera?' ... And I find it so sweet," Alvarado said.

Inspiring a new generation

Marissa Yap, another Filipino teacher in Arizona, said she also had challenges with some students who weren't as well behaved as those she taught in the Philippines.

Despite her small frame, she commands attention in the classroom where she teaches chemistry and AP physics.

But the secret to making students behave isn't just about being strict. It's also about listening to students.

"I have observed that kids over the world ... they have common thing(s). They want to be listened to, and they want to be stay motivated and be interested," Yap said.

"Some of the kids are actually working (jobs), so in my case like when the student is sleepy, I just talk to her: 'So, how are you doing? So did you work last night?' "

The drowsy student responded: "I just arrived at home at 12 a.m."

That's when Yap turns the problem into a moment of positive reinforcement:

"So you're very sleepy, but you're still doing your work. I really appreciate that," she told the student.

Since then, "I have (had) no problem with her."

"Whenever I talk to the kid(s), they feel like a connection that I care for them, and I realize that's ... way back home, also the same time. It's actually just the same," Yap said.

"When you talk to the kid and you establish that good relationship, the kids will actually also give you the respect that you deserve."

Elizabeth Vitela said Yap has made a profound impact on her daughter, Genevieve, who was in Yap's chemistry class last year. On some days, the teacher stayed late to work with Genevieve until 6 p.m. or later.

"My daughter didn't know what she wanted to do. Because of (Yap), she's choosing science as something she wants to do for a career," Vitela said.

She said Yap "just has the passion and the love to teach kids ... to bring something out of them that they didn't even know they had."

The clock is ticking

Regardless of how much the Filipino teachers love their students, or how much student and school districts love them, everyone knows their time in the US is limited.

Yap, Alvarado and Que all have less than two years before their visas expire.

"That would probably be a sad day for us," Yap said. "One kid already told me, 'Oh, Miss Yap, how long are you going to be here? Are you going to be in my graduation?' "

Alvarado said some of her students know she has to go back to the Philippines. They make it a point to tell her how grateful they are.

"It makes me feel so good when they would say, 'Miss I am very happy that you are one of my teachers because I've learned a lot from you.' " Alvarado said.

"When it comes to that point, when they would say thank you, it's a reward to myself that I have touched probably some lives of these people. But it's just so sad that we have to say goodbye."

Vitela, whose daughter didn't know what she wanted to do before she met Yap, started crying when she learned the Filipino teachers at Genevieve's school had to leave in two years.

"I think we need to change that," Vitela said. "Seriously."

"Because if you don't change that ... we're going to be doomed with education here in Arizona."

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Sharp Nationwide Enrollment Drop in Teacher Prep Programs Cause for Alarm

Declining enrollment in teacher prep courses is a harbinger of a crisis in America’s schools.

JULIA ALVAREZ, A 21-year-old senior at Michigan State University, is part of a disappearing demographic: those pursuing a career as an educator.

"Why I really want to become a teacher is because I want to go back and make my community better," says Alvarez, who grew up just east of Los Angeles. "But I was afraid of going into it because there were so many reasons not to."

Teacher preparation programs have experienced sharp enrollment declines over the last eight years in nearly every state across the country, a new analysis shows.

In Oklahoma, college and university programs designed to prepare educators for the classroom saw an 80% drop in enrollment since 2010 – just one of nine states where enrollment has nose-dived by more than half.

Coupled with low pay and historic levels of unrest among educators, the long, stubborn downward trend line has those responsible for building the next generation of teachers wondering whether the profession can overcome its sullied reputation.

"The minute I decided to do it, my mom was like, 'Are you sure?'" says Alvarez, whose mother worked in a school. "People were like, 'You don't get paid right. You don't get good benefits. It's long days and emotionally taxing.'"

"So there's a lot," she says. "Most of it comes down to there are just so many responsibilities and not enough time given."

Since 2010, enrollment in teacher preparation programs nationwide has declined by more than one-third, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress, meaning approximately 340,000 fewer students are enrolled in teacher preparation programs today.

Along with Oklahoma, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, New Mexico and Rhode Island all notched enrollment declines of 50%. And in nine states – California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania – enrollment dropped by more than 10,000 students.

The declines are notable on their own, but even more so considering they occurred alongside increasing enrollment in bachelor's degree programs over the same time period.

"This is going to take a decade to turn around if we act now," says Bryan Duke, interim associate dean in the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, as well as the director of educator preparation.

Duke has seen Central Oklahoma's enrollment fall off a cliff since 2012, when the school enrolled about 1,800 students. Last year, it enrolled just 856, a 49% decrease.

"We have made it flat-out unattractive to be a teacher," he says. "That message is not going to change overnight."

Perhaps most alarming, when researchers disaggregated the enrollment data by race, they found that the number of black and Latino students enrolled in teacher preparation programs had decreased by 25%. The teacher workforce, in which 80% of educators are white, 9% are Latino and 7% are black, is already less racially diverse than the overall U.S. labor force, despite bring a profession in which the importance of teachers of color cannot be overstated.

Recent research has shown that for black children, having just one black teacher in elementary school are more likely to graduate and more likely to enroll in college. But teacher preparation programs enrolled nearly 15,000 fewer black students in 2018 than in 2010.

Mirroring the drops in enrollment, researchers also discovered a 28 percent decline in the number of students completing teacher preparation programs across the same years. Though the decline was less drastic than enrollment figures, and only four states experienced a drop in completions greater than 50% compared to nine that did with enrollment, the metric is an important indicator of the potential supply of new teachers.

Given the public outcry over low salaries, budgets stretched thin and the number of expectations heaped on teachers, the decline in enrollment isn't entirely unanticipated. In 2018, PDK's annual poll showed that 54 percent of adults said they wouldn't want their children becoming teachers and half of teachers themselves said they've considered quitting the profession in the last two years.

"Some of the broader context nationally is extremely relevant," says Lisette Partelow, the senior director of K-12 Strategic Initiatives at the Center American Progress and author of the report.

"There's been two years of teacher strikes and walkouts across the country and there's a lot of thinking about that and the state of teaching," she says. "There is a clear unrest in the career of teaching, especially in these low-pay states, including Oklahoma."

Indeed, Oklahoma, with the third-lowest average teacher salary in the country even after teachers there staged a historic, nine-day statewide strike in 2018 that bumped up pay by $6,000, has become the poster child for the crisis.

13.37 GENERAL NONPUBLIC DATA.

Subdivision 1.Definitions.

 

As used in this section, the following terms have the meanings given them.

(a) "Security information" means government data the disclosure of which the responsible authority determines would be likely to substantially jeopardize the security of information, possessions, individuals or property against theft, tampering, improper use, attempted escape, illegal disclosure, trespass, or physical injury. "Security information" includes checking account numbers, crime prevention block maps and lists of volunteers who participate in community crime prevention programs and their home and mailing addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail or other digital addresses, Internet communication services accounts information or similar accounts information, and global positioning system locations.

(b) "Trade secret information" means government data, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process (1) that was supplied by the affected individual or organization, (2) that is the subject of efforts by the individual or organization that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy, and (3) that derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.

(c) "Labor relations information" means management positions on economic and noneconomic items that have not been presented during the collective bargaining process or interest arbitration, including information specifically collected or created to prepare the management position.

(d) "Parking space leasing data" means the following government data on an applicant for, or lessee of, a parking space: residence address, home telephone number, beginning and ending work hours, place of employment, work telephone number, and location of the parking space.

Subd. 2.Classification.

 

(a) The following government data is classified as nonpublic data with regard to data not on individuals, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 9, and as private data with regard to data on individuals, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 12: Security information; trade secret information; sealed absentee ballots prior to opening by an election judge; sealed bids, including the number of bids received, prior to the opening of the bids; parking space leasing data; and labor relations information, provided that specific labor relations information which relates to a specific labor organization is classified as protected nonpublic data pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 13.

(b) If a government entity denies a data request based on a determination that the data are security information, upon request, the government entity must provide a short description explaining the necessity for the classification.

Subd. 3.Data dissemination.

 

(a) Crime prevention block maps and names, home addresses, and telephone numbers of volunteers who participate in community crime prevention programs may be disseminated to volunteers participating in crime prevention programs. The location of a National Night Out event is public data.

(b) The responsible authority of a government entity in consultation with the appropriate chief law enforcement officer, emergency manager, or public health official, may make security information accessible to any person, entity, or the public if the government entity determines that the access will aid public health, promote public safety, or assist law enforcement.

History: 

1980 c 603 s 15; 1981 c 311 s 11,39; 1982 c 545 s 24; 1984 c 436 s 15; 1985 c 248 s 4; 1990 c 573 s 3,4; 1996 c 440 art 1 s 5,6; 1997 c 111 s 6; 1998 c 371 s 1; 1Sp2003 c 8 art 2 s 7; 2005 c 163 s 33-35; 2012 c 290 s 16,17; 2013 c 82 s 2; 2014 c 208 s 1

Copyright © 2018 by the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Teacher Shortage is ‘Real and Growing, and Worse Than We Thought’

While the teacher shortage is being felt across many states and school districts, its impact is not shared equally along socioeconomic lines, according to a new paper by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Probably the most critical resource denied to many students is an experienced, full-certified teacher –  a deficit that is “much more acute problem in high-poverty schools,” said EPI Economist Emma García. “These shortages threaten students’ ability to learn and reduce teachers’ effectiveness, and high teacher turnover consumes economic resources that could be better deployed elsewhere.”

The study, co-authored by García and EPI research associate Elaine Weiss, is the first in a series  examining the “perfect storm” in the teacher labor market – the causes, the consequences and potential remedies. “The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought,” they write.

As the U.S. economy slowly recovered from the Great Recession and school budgets improved, districts began to look for teachers. They soon found that filling positions was more difficult than they had anticipated. Too many districts have struggled ever since. Finding qualified teachers in mathematics, science and special education has been a particular challenge.

The Leaning Policy Institute (LPI), who has sounded the alarm about the teacher shortage in a number of reports, defines a shortage as “the inability to staff school at current wages with individuals qualified to teach in the fields required.”

As García and Weiss note, not all current teachers meet the education, experience, and certification requirements associated with being a highly qualified teacher.

“We argue that, when issues such as teacher quality and the unequal distribution of highly qualified teachers across schools serving different concentrations of low-income students are taken into consideration, the teacher shortage problem is much more severe than previously thought,” the EPI report said.

The shortages are especially severe in California. In 2017, LPI found that two-thirds of principals in high-poverty schools left positions vacant or hired less-qualified teachers. Less than half of their counterparts in schools with fewer lower-income students did so.

According to Advance Illinois, in 2017, 90 percent of teacher vacancies in the state – 1,006 positions in all – were in underfunded school districts. Seventy-four percent were in majority-minority school districts, and 81 percent were in low-income districts.

Students in high-poverty schools are more likely than their counterparts in low-poverty schools to have teachers who have less experience, fewer credentials, and lack the educational background in the subject matter they are teaching. (See chart below.) These teachers are also more likely to leave the profession.

The EPI paper also finds that the established link between strong credentials and retention weakens in high-poverty schools, as attrition drains these schools of qualified teachers at a greater rate. Richard Ingersoll of the University of Pennsylvania estimates that half of all teacher turnover occurs in 25 percent of public schools, predominantly in high-poverty urban and rural areas.

“There is no sign that the large shortage of credentialed teachers—overall, and especially in high-poverty schools—will go away,” García and Weiss write. Progress can be achieved only when the problem and its complexities are evaluated properly. This begins by understanding that the shortage is driven by several critical factors, including the teacher pay gap, stress and demoralization, and a scarcity of effective professional development, training and mentoring.

EPI will be take an in-depth look at these challenges – and potential solutions – in upcoming papers.

“In light of the harms the teacher shortage creates, as well as its size and projected trend, it is critical to understand the nature of the problem and the complexity of the teacher labor market,” said Weiss. “While most people understand teaching is a difficult job, our goal is to provide the attention that we have historically failed to in order to understand and fix the problems contributing to the shortage.”

http://neatoday.org/2019/04/03/how-bad-is-the-teacher-shortage/?fbclid=IwAR0FUgvVedFSMn08CBAw01icOsdlfaDpMN2xdrx8Qh1Ke5U0NzlVP6IZyEk

Most licensed Minnesota teachers are turning to other careers

Fewer than half of Minnesota’s state’s licensed teachers actually work in public schools, according to a report issued this week by the teacher licensing board.

The publicly funded Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board researched the biennial “supply and demand” report last fall with the Wilder Foundation.

Its findings align with previous state and national studies on teacher licensing, hiring and retention. Those studies have found a high percentage of young teachers leaving classrooms within the first couple of years.

According to the report released Wednesday, some 70,000 licensed Minnesota teachers are not working in classrooms. That’s 52.5 percent of licensed teachers in the 2017-18 school year.

Meanwhile, districts reported difficulty in hiring teachers. The problems aren’t concentrated in specific regions but exist statewide.

The report didn’t include recommendations. The board is seeking funding for a statewide teacher survey on why licensed teachers aren’t working in their profession.

“The report clearly illustrates how districts are struggling to find fully prepared and licensed individuals to fill teaching positions,” said Alex Liuzzi, executive director of the licensing board. “And all of these concerns substantially increase when looking at whether we have enough teachers of color in Minnesota.”

Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, the teachers union, said the results aren’t surprising. Low salaries are only part of the problem for former teachers.

“The stresses of overcrowded classrooms and the unmet mental health needs of many students have pushed out others,” Specht said. “Minnesota schools are starving for additional resources. If the state Legislature doesn’t deliver them this year, I’m sure Minnesota schools will lose hundreds of more good educators this spring to less stressful jobs in the private sector.”

The report also found a lack of racial diversity among teaching staffs. While one-third of students statewide belong to minority groups, only 4 percent of teachers are people of color.

The licensing board, which is separate from the state Department of Education, paid Wilder $47,000 for its work on the report.

“Our next step is collecting more comprehensive data to uncover why so many teachers leave the classroom,” Liuzzi said. “With the additional information, we can find solutions to increase enrollment in teacher preparation and increase the retention of our current teachers.”

Rochelle Olson is a general assignment reporter for the Star Tribune. Olson has been on the quick strike team for three years, writing about a wide variety of topics. She specializes in the intersection of sports, business and culture.

raolson@startribune.com 612-673-1747 rochelleolson

Where does illegal immigration mostly occur? Here's what the data tell us

Most undocumented immigrants didn't enter this country through Tijuana, where news cameras have captured images of thousands of immigrants seeking refuge during recent months.

And they didn't enter near the border town of McAllen, Texas, which the president visited Thursday during the 20th day of a partial government shutdown fought over constructing additional barriers on the Southern border.

When it comes to people in the country without proper documentation, the majority of them didn't cross the Mexican border at all. Most of them came to the United States legally — but then don't leave.

About 700,000 travelers to the United States overstayed their visas in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security has published figures. DHS estimated that, as of Sept. 30, 2017, the end of that fiscal year, more than 600,000 of those travelers were still in the U.S.

During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions along the Southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection — the lowest number since 1971.

Don't see the graphic above? Click here.

Visa overstays have outnumbered people who enter the country illegally at the Southern border every year since 2007, according to a report by the Center for Migration Studies. The report's authors estimate that the number of total visa overstays was 600,000 more than the total number of border crossers and that in 2014, visa overstays accounted for two-thirds of all new undocumented immigrants.

Immigrants traveling through Mexico, of course, take up much of the public's attention on the issue of illegal immigration. And they do account for almost all people apprehended by CBP, which includes the Border Patrol. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement largely works in the interior of the country.)

Those caught by the U.S. government can apply for asylum if they can claim a credible fear that their lives would be in danger by returning to their home countries; some immigrants, in fact, turn themselves into federal agents to do so. Apprehensions of people attempting to cross the border illegally, however, far outnumber the number of people requesting asylum at the border.

The agency catches the highest number of undocumented migrants in the Rio Grande Valley sector of south Texas. This includes McAllen, where the president visited on Thursday.

In fiscal 2018, CBP apprehended 162,000 people in the Rio Grande Valley. None of the eight other Border Patrol sectors on the Southern border had even half of that activity.

Don't see the graphic above? Click here.

But another area saw apprehensions quickly rise during recent months: the El Paso sector.

In the last fiscal year, 8 percent of all apprehensions came from this area, which consists of New Mexico and a small portion of West Texas, including the city of El Paso. But in October and November of 2018 — as apprehensions in general ticked up — that area's share doubled.

The majority of that growth in the El Paso area has been from apprehensions of what CBP calls "family units." During those two months, the agency reported that almost three-quarters of all people caught there were traveling with family members.

"What we've been seeing over the past few months is a dramatic increase in families and kids," Andrew Meehan, CBP's assistant commissioner for public affairs, told NPR. "You have Border Patrol stations that are largely at capacity and are not equipped to handle the large surge of families and kids that have approached our border."

Don't see the graphic above? Click here.

It is unclear how many of these migrants applied for asylum after arriving in the U.S. — but the total number of asylum cases has been increasing as well.

"A growing percentage of border crossers in recent years have originated in the Northern Triangle states of Central America," wrote Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin of the Center for Migration Studies. "These migrants are fleeing pervasive violence, persecution and poverty, and a large number do not seek to evade arrest, but present themselves to border officials and request political asylum. Many are de facto refugees, not illegal border crossers," the authors wrote.

In 2017, the Border Patrol employed more than 19,000 agents, almost double the number in fiscal 2003. And the agency's budget grew from $263 million in 1990 to more $3.8 billion in 2016, according to the American Immigration Council. The budget for Customs and Border Protection — which includes the Border Patrol — has grown from $5.9 billion in 2003 to $13.2 billion in 2016.

At the same time, apprehensions at the Southern border have declined — from a high of more than 1.6 million in 2000 to just over 300,000 in 2017.

Does the wall deter crossings?

Despite consistently high apprehensions in sectors that do contain fencing, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said at the White House on Wednesday that "everywhere we put up a wall, illegal immigration has been reduced 90 to 95 percent."

Yet, CBP data shows that the number of people that agents have caught has decreased across the board — not just in areas where the government constructed barriers.

Both the El Paso and Rio Grande sectors have physical barriers in place to prevent illegal crossings into the United States. Pedestrian fencing stretches to both sides of the city of El Paso in West Texas, with vehicle barriers along much of the rest of the New Mexico border. In south Texas, pedestrian fencing dots the area around McAllen and expands most of the way from there to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona and is almost completely blocked by vehicle and pedestrian fencing, has seen a recent increase in apprehensions. In fiscal 2018, CBP caught about 52,000 people there, including an estimated 5,000 unaccompanied minors.

The sector of the Southwestern border with the fewest apprehensions, on the other hand, has almost no fencing. The Big Bend sector, starting in West Texas and extending about halfway down the state, is the largest individual sector guarded by CBP. The rough terrain of the mountain ranges and the Chihuahuan Desert make it a difficult place to cross. In fiscal 2018, CBP apprehended just 8,000 people there.

Joel Rose contributed to this report.