The number of migrants illegally crossing the southwest U.S. border is at its lowest point since the start of the Biden administration, with just over 3,000 migrants stopped by Border Patrol each day. The number has plummeted from more than 10,000 daily just three weeks ago, despite widespread predictions of a surge after the end of the Title 42 Covid ban on May 11.
And there may also be fewer migrants waiting just across the border to cross. Shortly before Title 42 was lifted, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz estimated that up to 65,000 migrants were living in shelters and tent cities in Mexico, ready to enter the U.S. While numbers for tent cities were unavailable, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said the population of 130-plus shelters in northern Mexico had fallen from above 25,000 on May 19 to just over 20,000 on Monday.
Customs and Border Protection officials attribute the slowdown in illegal border crossings to “consequences.” Under Title 42, migrants could repeatedly try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and face no consequences if they were turned back. After Title 42 ended, migrants who are caught illegally entering the U.S. are charged with a felony if they are deported and caught trying to re-enter the U.S. within five years, a reimposition of an older regulation called Title 8. A CBP official said word of the increased penalties and deportations — of the “consequences” — has reached migrants considering crossing.
Other factors that may be keeping the numbers low are increases in usage of the CBP One App, the mobile application to book appointments at U.S. ports of entry to seek asylum; new asylum requirements and weather conditions.
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