Arrests for illegal border crossings have dropped more than 40% during the three weeks that asylum processing has been suspended, the Homeland Security Department said Wednesday.
The announcement comes just one day before President Joe Biden is set to debate former President and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in what is expected to be a crucial moment in the election campaign.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security discusses border enforcement efforts during a news conference Wednesday in Tucson.
Biden is considered especially vulnerable with voters when it comes to immigration. Trump has hammered him repeatedly on border security by painting a picture of the border as out of control and migrants as a threat to the nationโs security and economy. Biden has both sought to crack down on new arrivals at the border and to offer new immigration pathways.
โOur team did an exceptional job quickly implementing this new policy and we are already seeing the results,โ Mayorkas said Wednesday at a news conference at Davis-Monthan Air Force base. โHere in Tucson, we have seen a more than 45% Drop in US Border Patrol encounters.โ
Earlier in the month, President Biden announced new executive actions aimed at cracking down on new arrivals at the border, which suspends asylum access when arrivals at the border reached a certain number, raising concerns among immigration advocates and asylum seekers.
Under the new guidelines, which takes effect when daily arrests are above 2,500, anyone who expresses fear, or intention to seek asylum, is supposed to be screened by a U.S. asylum officer but with higher scrutiny than previously used. If they pass the screening, migrants can pursue more limited forms of humanitarian protection than asylum, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
The new administrative actions are changing the calculus for people considering crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Mayorkas.
The Border Patrolโs average daily arrests over a seven-day period have fallen below 2,400, or more than 40% across the entire southern border, new figures released Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security show. Thatโs still well above the 1,500 mark needed to resume asylum processing under the new guidance, but it marks the lowest number since Jan. 17, 2021.
Tucson is one the busiest corridors for illegal border crossings. The seven-day daily average of arrests in the Border Patrolโs Tucson sector was just under 600 on Tuesday, down from just under 1,200 on June 2, authorities say.
โRepatriations of encountered individuals in Tucson have increased by nearly 150%,โ Mayorkas said Wednesday. โAs a result, in Tucson we have seen a more than 80% decrease in individuals placed into immigration proceedings.โ
Nationally, there have been over 100 International repatriation flights to more than 20 countries, and agents have removed or returned more than 24,000 individuals, Mayorkas said.
โWe are also working with partner nations in the region and building lawful pathways for people to seek humanitarian relief in a safe and orderly way,โ he said.
Despite the apparent effectiveness of these new policies, they are no substitute for congressional action, Mayorkas said, referencing a bipartisan border agreement, blocked by Senate Republicans, which he said would have added 1,500 Border Patrol agents as well as 1,200 immigration and customs enforcement personnel.
โOnly Congress, through legislation, can fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system,โ Mayorkas said. โWe need timely funds to hire more agents, officers and support personnel to buy, install and maintain more technology, hire more judges to move cases faster, and equip us to move more quickly.โ
The restrictions President Biden announced at the beginning of June cut off asylum access when arrivals at the border reached a certain number, infuriating immigration advocates who say the policy differs little from what Trump attempted. Then a few weeks later Biden announced a new program aimed at undocumented spouses of American citizens who had been in the country for a decade or more that could ultimately provide them a pathway to citizenship.
Border patrol agent Pete Bidegain on Tuesday looks at the U.S.-Mexico border call from a hilltop in Nogales. Arrests for illegal border crossings have dropped more than 40% during the three weeks asylum processing has been suspended, the Homeland Security Department said Wednesday.
Last week, Customs and Border Protection said in its monthly release of statistics that border arrests had fallen 25% since Bidenโs order took effect, indicating they have decreased much more since then.
The monthly data releases are a closely watched metric of border security and how many people are coming to the southern border of the U.S. The numbers reached a record high last December before falling roughly in half in January and staying in that range throughout the spring. A large part of that decrease was believed to be due to Mexican enforcement on its side of the border.
A driver readies a bus Tuesday to transport migrants from a border patrol holding facility in Tucson. New immigration restrictions President Biden announced earlier this month cut off asylum access when arrivals at the border reached a certain number.
Under the asylum suspension, which takes effect when daily arrests are above 2,500, anyone who expresses fear or an intention to seek asylum is screened by a U.S. asylum officer but at a higher standard than currently used. If they pass the screening, they can pursue more limited forms of humanitarian protection than asylum, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
Immigration advocates have sued to stop the restrictions.
A driver readies a bus Tuesday to transport migrants from a border patrol holding facility in Tucson. New immigration restrictions President Biden announced earlier this month cut off asylum access when arrivals at the border reached a certain number.
