Illegal border crossings at the U.S. southern border have fallen to a three-year low, the lowest level of Joe Biden’s presidency, shortly after he signed a controversial executive order in June restricting immigration there.
The latest data obtained by CBS News from federal Customs and Border Patrol is the most recent since Biden signed his executive order, and it comes as the president faces accusations of failing to address concerns about the number of people entering the U.S. without authorization.
About 84,000 undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. in June, according to CBS, the lowest monthly total since Biden took office in January 2021.
The decline is part of a broader trend of steadily declining numbers of people entering the U.S. without authorization since February, when 141,000 people were apprehended at the border.
Biden’s executive order restricts asylum seekers from crossing the southern border once a daily crossing has been exceeded. Biden signed the order after Republicans blocked a bipartisan immigration bill designed to restrict asylum.
“We must face a simple truth,” Biden said as the order was signed. “To protect America as a nation that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now.”
The mandate was condemned by Democrats, particularly progressives and immigration activists, who saw it as punitive and a reminder of the White House’s previous asylum ban under Donald Trump.
“It violates fundamental American values of who we say we are — and it puts people at risk,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, the executive director of America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group. “It’s part of a trap that Democrats are falling into — they’re buying into the narrative that the right is pushing on immigration.”
Biden’s action came amid polls showing that a majority of registered voters disapprove of his handling of immigration, a top priority in the 2024 presidential election. The Democrats’ executive order has done little to sway disaffected voters, according to a recent Monmouth University poll.
Biden has also faced continued criticism from Republicans for his failure to address the record numbers of people entering the US through the border with Mexico.
During Thursday’s presidential debate, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, repeatedly brought up the murder and assault of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was killed in Texas by two Venezuelan men who reportedly entered the country illegally.
“There are many young women who have been murdered by the same people that he’s bringing across our border,” Trump said, as reported by Reuters. “These murderers are coming into our country and they’re raping and murdering women. And that’s horrific.”
