A US official said on Wednesday that the number of people trying to cross the US-Mexico border illegally has decreased since new immigration rules took effect last week.
Blas Nunez-Neto of the Department of Homeland Security said border police had counted fewer than 4,000 arrests and deportations of migrants in the past two days.
According to him, 10,000 cases per day were reported during the week before Title 42 was lifted, a measure adopted during the pandemic to limit entry into the country.
The regulation was replaced on Friday by an older one, Title 8, which includes restrictions on the right to asylum.
Officials are seeking to reduce the number of migrants trying to enter the country from Mexico from more than 20,000 last year, which has drawn President Joe Biden harsh criticism from Republicans.
Núñez-Neto said the new rules seem to be working as a deterrent.
Migrant arrivals from South and Central America across the Mexican border also appear to have decreased, he said.
The “CBP One” mobile application, which is designed to centralize immigration placement requests in the United States, has received “thousands” of visits and has “processed” more than 5,000, the official said.
However, Núñez-Neto recalled that “it is too early to draw definite conclusions from these first signs.”
This Wednesday, an 8-year-old girl died in US custody in Harlingen, a Texas city near the Gulf of Mexico.
In a statement, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that “the girl and her family were placed in custody in Harlingen, where she experienced a medical emergency” and was “pronounced brought dead” after being transported to a hospital. Went.”
The agency, which did not provide details about the minor’s identity or nationality, speculated that his death would be investigated.
