The number of migrants entering the US illegally through the southern border reached a three-month low of President Biden’s administration in September. his crackdown on asylum applicationsThis is evident from internal statistics from the Department of Homeland Security, obtained by CBS News.
In September, U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 54,000 apprehensions of migrants entering the country between legal entry points along the border with Mexico, government figures show. It is a smaller number than the low point in the previous Biden era in Julywhen Border Patrol processed approximately 56,000 migrants who crossed the border without authorization.
The number of migrant apprehensions by Border Patrol in September is the lowest number recorded by the agency since August 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that countries implemented in response led to a sharp decline in migration to the southern border of the US. It’s also a 78% drop from a record high in December, when the number of illegal border crossings rose to 250,000.
U.S. immigration officials processed another 48,000 migrants at legal border entry points, known as ports of entry, in September, according to internal federal data. Most of them are secured agreements to enter the US via a phone app the Biden administration has transformed into the main gateway to the US asylum system.
September figures show that migration to the US-Mexico border has leveled off after a steep decline at the start of the summer, when President Biden invoked far-reaching presidential powers to exclude most people who enter the country illegally from asylum. In July, August and September, Border Patrol agents at the southern border recorded between 54,000 and 58,000 apprehensions of migrants per month.
Biden’s move to sharply limit asylum policies is designed to be temporary and will likely remain in place indefinitely after his administration enacts the policy. deactivation threshold harder to reach last week. Vice President Kamala Harris has done so too promised to continue the strict measure if he is elected president, and make its lifting even more difficult.
The Biden administration’s support for drastic restrictions on asylum reflects a broader rightward shift in Democrats’ border policies that would have been unthinkable in 2020, when the party was under pressure to end the Trump administration’s tough immigration rules. to undo the government. It’s a shift that has taken place amid a marked increase in support among the American public for tough immigration measures.
However, the dramatic reduction in illegal border crossings this year has given Democrats a much-needed political victory on immigration ahead of next month’s presidential election. Former President Donald Trump, who promises to carry out mass deportations if voters return him to the White House, has tried to make immigration a defining issue in the 2024 presidential race.
With September’s numbers, fiscal year 2024 saw the lowest number of unlawful border crossings under the Biden administration. Border Patrol recorded more than 1.5 million migrant apprehensions in fiscal year 2024, compared to a record high of 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022.
While the Mexican government’s efforts to ban those heading north have also played a major role in the lower number of migrants arriving along the U.S. border this year, U.S. officials credited Mr. Biden’s strict asylum rules in June for the current four-year low in levels of illegal immigration.
During its first three years in office, the Biden administration struggled to respond to an unprecedented influx of migrants fueled in large part by arrivals from far-flung countries, including countries like Venezuela, where the U.S. cannot process migrants on a regular basis deportation due to icy diplomatic relations. In many cases, migrants were released into the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court simply because the government did not have the resources and personnel to investigate their asylum claims at the border.
But since Biden’s partial ban on asylum applications took effect, migrant releases have fallen 80%, a senior Customs and Border Protection official told CBS News, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about migration trends. The U.S. government has long viewed the release of migrants as a “pull” factor driving migration to the southern border, in addition to economic conditions and other “push” factors in the migrants’ home countries.
More than 70% of migrant adults and families apprehended by Border Patrol have been deported from the US since Mr. Biden’s asylum administration began, up from 25% in May, according to DHS data. Since the policy took effect, the U.S. has conducted more than 121,000 returns and deportations of migrants.
The asylum restrictions do not apply to unaccompanied children or children with acute medical conditions. It also exempts more than 1,000 migrants who enter the U.S. every day through legal border crossings through the appointment system via a phone app. The Biden administration has linked that process to other legal migration channels, including a program that allows migrants from four countries to fly to the U.S. if they have U.S. sponsors, with asylum restrictions to discourage unlawful crossings through a carrot-and-stick approach stick strategy.
While it has arguably been responsible for ending, at least temporarily, large-scale illegal crossings and chaotic scenes at the US-Mexico border, the Biden administration’s crackdown on asylum has been derided as an election gimmick by Republican lawmakers and by advocates of migrants as a draconian policy. , who challenged the policy in court.
At a conference hosted by the Migration Policy Institute last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas challenged those critical of asylum restrictions to come up with an “alternative proposal,” addressing the situation at the border before the called policy change ‘unworkable’.
“We must understand the fact that the American public wants, expects and demands the delivery of order,” Mayorkas said, later adding: “And I want that, at least in special cases over the last three years, with show respect. We haven’t had any orders.”
