DHS: Migrant encounters down 40% since new asylum rules took effect

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated Wednesday afternoon after Mayorkas’ visit to Tucson)

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — Border Patrol agents have seen a 40% drop in migrant encounters overall on the Southwest border in the past three weeks since President Joe Biden issued new asylum orders, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday.

“We are removing more noncitizens without a legal basis to stay here, nearly doubling the rate at which we are removing noncitizens directly from Border Patrol custody,” Mayorkas said.

This is in line with reports of rising numbers of migrants living in shelters and camps south of the border in northern Mexico.

The seven-day average is now under 2,400 encounters, Department of Homeland Security officials said. This is the lowest level of encounters since mid-January of 2021.

And down from well over 4,000 daily encounters that the Southwest border had been experiencing in recent months.

In Tucson, Arizona, agents have had a 45% drop in encounters since the new rules, Mayorkas said Wednesday afternoon after touring the region.

“These actions are changing the calculus for those considering crossing our border,” Mayorkas said.

But the numbers are not low enough to lift the asylum restrictions currently imposed on the Southwest border, DHS officials said.

Over 24,000 individuals have been returned to over 20 countries since the order took effect on June 5. This includes over 100 deportation flights, DHS officials said.

In Tucson, repatriations have increased by nearly 150 percent, Mayorkas said.

“As a result, in Tucson we have seen a more than 80% decrease in individuals placed into immigration proceedings and our backlogged court system,” he said.

There are currently 3.6 million backlogged immigration court cases nationwide, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University.

The agency credits the threat of deportations for deterring migrants from illegally crossing the border.

The interim final rule is in effect when daily migrant encounters exceed 2,500 for seven days and will not be lifted until encounters drop below 1,500 daily for seven days.

Overall, the number of individuals processed through expedited removals while in Border Patrol or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody has doubled, while the number of people released on humanitarian parole has dropped by 65%, the agency.

Under the asylum proclamation , migrants must cross at a port of entry and secure an appointment via the CBP One app to claim asylum. Individuals who cross irregularly are subject to immediate removal and a five-year ban from the United States. They also face potential criminal prosecution.

ICE is currently working to secure more air charter contracts for more removal flights.

The United States is also working diplomatically to increase the number of countries that will receive returned migrants.

ICE also is expanding its detention facility contracts to add more detention beds, even as the agency announced that the largest migrant detention facility in the nation, located in Dilley, Texas, will be shutting down because of cost overruns.

The closing of the South Texas Family Residential Center has concerned migrant advocates who worry that more individuals will be detained in facilities closer to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Migrant advocates also have been critical of new measures imposed as part of the asylum restrictions that require migrants to proclaim they fear for their lives if returned to their home countries. Otherwise, they will not be given a credible fear interview.

Nevertheless, DHS said Wednesday that the agency “has significantly expanded its capacity to conduct credible fear interviews.” Over 152,000 credible fear interviews have been held since May 12, 2023, when Title 42 was lifted and Title 8 removal orders resumed.

The agency said the latest asylum changes “follow a series of steps that the administration has taken over the past three years as it prepared for the end of the Title 42 public health order.”

Title 42 took effect in March 2020 and prevented asylum-seekers from crossing into the United States during the pandemic to reduce the spread of the virus.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

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