Border Patrol agents on the southern border saw an unusual reprieve in the number of migrants crossing from Mexico in March compared to prior years, a trend that bucks the springtime surge that follows pent-up demand from a winter slowdown in travel.

Border authorities apprehended 137,000 migrants at the 2,000-mile southern border in March, according to federal statistics obtained by CBS News. The figure was down slightly from 141,000 arrests in February, though still far above the average of 30,000 to 50,000 monthly arrests seen in the decade before President Joe Biden’s tenure.

The decrease in Border Patrol arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border in March marked one of two instances in more than two decades in which the number of arrests did not increase as the weather warmed up.

The only other year was in 2020 as the world locked down during the coronavirus pandemic.

Deterrence by the United States, state of Texas, and Mexican government may all be factors for the decline.

Three Biden administration officials who spoke with CBS News proposed that Mexico had stepped up immigration enforcement since December, when the White House sent top officials down to Mexico City for bilateral talks.

“That kind of highlights that one of the reasons for the decrease was the government of Mexico’s continued significant enforcement efforts to disrupt some of the transportation networks moving people up to the border,” one Biden official said.

Stateside, Texas has continued its massive border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) launched the initiative in early 2021 as illegal immigrant arrests soared and Border Patrol agents were pulled inside to process people in custody rather than remain out in the field.

In December 2023, Border Patrol agents arrested nearly 250,000 illegal immigrants at the southern border, the highest monthly total in history.

In the three years since Operation Lone Star was launched, federal data reveal that migrants are increasingly choosing not to cross the border in Texas and instead are opting for New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that oversees the Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the March border numbers.

CBP does not release monthly data until halfway through the following month.