Border apprehensions at four-year low, increase expected in August
Elliot Spagat | The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Apprehensions of illegal border crossings from Mexico are expected to be slightly higher during August than in July, officials said, potentially ending a five-month stretch of declines that has kept numbers at a four-year low.
Authorities had made about 54,000 arrests through Thursday, according to two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that has not been made public. At the current pace, arrests will total about 58,000 when August ends on Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that has not been made public.
The figure suggests arrests may have hit bottom after halving from a record high of 250,000 in December. U.S. officials say the drop is largely due to Mexican authorities stepping up enforcement at the border. Arrests halved again after Democratic President Joe Biden exercised his authority to suspend asylum proceedings in June. Arrests fell sharply to 56,408 in July and were little changed in August, the lowest level in nearly four years.
Asked about the latest figures, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement from Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging Congress to back failed legislation that would halt asylum proceedings if border crossings reach a certain number, restructure how asylum claims are decided to ease immigration court backlogs and hire more Border Patrol agents.
Republicans, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, opposed the bill, saying it didn't go far enough.
“Thanks to the actions of the Biden-Harris Administration, the hard work of our Department of Homeland Security employees, and our partnerships with regional and global partners, encounters at the southwest border continue to hit their lowest levels since September 2020,” Mayorkas said Saturday.
The sharp decline from last year's highs is good news for the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, even as many immigration advocates criticize the asylum restrictions as excessive and Biden's new expanded legal entry pathways as too generous and criticized by those calling for a tougher crackdown.
By the end of July, more than 765,000 people had entered the US legally using the online booking app CBP One, and another 520,000 people from four countries had been admitted through airports with the help of financial sponsors. Airport admissions for hard-to-deport nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela were suspended in July to address concerns about fraud by US financial sponsors.
Of the nine Border Patrol precincts on the Mexican border, San Diego again had the most arrests in August, followed by El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, though the three busiest corridors are close together, officials said. Apprehensions of Colombians and Ecuadorians fell, but officials blamed that on deportation flights to South American countries: Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras were the top three.
