The number of migrants crossing into the United States illegally has dropped by roughly half along the southern border since President Biden began enforcing new restrictions last week, but administration officials said Monday it was too soon to tell if the change marked a major shift or a brief lull.
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Illegal crossings have declined to fewer than 5,000 per day since the White House lifted the pandemic-era Title 42 border policy late Thursday, Blas Nuñez-Neto, the top border policy official at the Department of Homeland Security, said during a media briefing in Washington.
Nuñez-Neto attributed the lower numbers to tighter immigration enforcement by Mexico and other nations in the hemisphere, along with the Biden administration’s new policies inviting more migrants to apply to enter the United States legally.
“The situation on the border is very fluid,” Nuñez-Neto said. “It is still way too early to draw any firm conclusions.”
Biden officials predicted for months that illegal crossings would increase when the Title 42 border policy expired and U.S. agents could no longer use its emergency authorities to rapidly expel border-crossers back to Mexico or their home countries.
Skip to end of carousel
But migrants interviewed along the border in recent days said they saw the former policy’s May 11 expiration date as a deadline to reach the United States. They cited warnings from U.S. officials that the pandemic policy would be replaced by tougher measures that included fast-track deportations.
U.S. authorities have carried out thousands of deportations to more than 10 countries since Friday, Nuñez-Neto said.
Hundreds of migrants including Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans have been sent back across the southern border under new measures that for the first time allow the large-scale formal deportation of non-Mexicans to Mexico, he said.
Unlike the expulsions, deportations carry legal penalties including a five-year bar on returning to the United States and possible criminal charges.
Other nations are taking steps to stiffen enforcement, Nuñez-Neto said. Security forces in Mexico and Guatemala have reinforced their southern borders in recent days to limit new arrivals, and Panama and Colombia are targeting smugglers sending people on the dangerous trek through the jungles of the Darién Gap region, he said.
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Illegal crossings have declined to fewer than 5,000 per day since the White House lifted the pandemic-era Title 42 border policy late Thursday, Blas Nuñez-Neto, the top border policy official at the Department of Homeland Security, said during a media briefing in Washington.
Nuñez-Neto attributed the lower numbers to tighter immigration enforcement by Mexico and other nations in the hemisphere, along with the Biden administration’s new policies inviting more migrants to apply to enter the United States legally.
“The situation on the border is very fluid,” Nuñez-Neto said. “It is still way too early to draw any firm conclusions.”
Biden officials predicted for months that illegal crossings would increase when the Title 42 border policy expired and U.S. agents could no longer use its emergency authorities to rapidly expel border-crossers back to Mexico or their home countries.
Skip to end of carousel
But migrants interviewed along the border in recent days said they saw the former policy’s May 11 expiration date as a deadline to reach the United States. They cited warnings from U.S. officials that the pandemic policy would be replaced by tougher measures that included fast-track deportations.
U.S. authorities have carried out thousands of deportations to more than 10 countries since Friday, Nuñez-Neto said.
Hundreds of migrants including Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans have been sent back across the southern border under new measures that for the first time allow the large-scale formal deportation of non-Mexicans to Mexico, he said.
Unlike the expulsions, deportations carry legal penalties including a five-year bar on returning to the United States and possible criminal charges.
Other nations are taking steps to stiffen enforcement, Nuñez-Neto said. Security forces in Mexico and Guatemala have reinforced their southern borders in recent days to limit new arrivals, and Panama and Colombia are targeting smugglers sending people on the dangerous trek through the jungles of the Darién Gap region, he said.
