Border arrests drop 33% to 46-month low in July after asylum curbs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico fell 33% in July to the lowest level since September 2020, authorities said Friday, as a result of a temporary suspension of asylum.

The Border Patrol apprehended 56,408 people last month, down from 83,536 in June, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency’s parent.

Asylum has been suspended. At the border on June 5 because arrests for illegal crossings have topped 2,500 people a day, even though the lack of deportation flights prevents authorities from removing everyone. U.S. authorities say arrests have dropped 55% since the move, which follows a sharp drop earlier this year that was widely attributed to Mexican authorities increase enforcement of the law Within their borders.

“In July, our border security measures enhanced our ability to enforce penalties for illegal entry,” said Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.

The numbers that were Approximately according to initial estimatesThis vote may give Democrats some breathing room on an issue that has dogged them throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.

“The Biden-Harris administration has taken effective action, and Republicans continue to do nothing,” White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said.

More than 38,000 people have been accepted at land crossings through the online appointment system called CBP One, bringing the total to more than 765,000 since its introduction in January 2023.

More than 520,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela had been accepted through July under a separate policy that allows people from those four countries to apply online with a financial sponsor and arrive at the airport. Permits have been suspended recently. Amid fears of fraud by sponsors.

“The Department of Homeland Security is working to resume processing applications as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards in place,” Customs and Border Protection said in a statement.

Customs and Border Protection said Friday that The areas will be expanded. Non-Mexican migrants can apply online for appointments to seek asylum in the United States on August 23 in a large swath of southern Mexico.

Migrants will be able to make appointments on the CBP One app from the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, spanning northern and central Mexico. Mexicans can apply anywhere in the country.

The move sought by Mexico could ease pressure on the Mexican government by allowing migrants to wait for their appointments further south, away from the U.S. border, and reduce the risks to people trying to reach the U.S. border to claim asylum.

U.S. Representative Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, criticized the Biden administration’s new and expanded legal pathways at the border.

“This administration is running a massive game, encouraging inadmissible aliens to transit at ports of entry rather than between them, thus creating a facade of management improvements but in reality imposing an increasing burden on our communities,” he said.