The Secretary of Homeland Security said on Sunday that the number of migrants stopped by US officials at the border with Mexico had halved after the end of a rule adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over the past two days, the United States Border Patrol has reported a 50% drop in the number of encounters compared to the previous week,” Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
About 6,300 migrants crossed the border into Mexico on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday, according to the official, a number he described as “significantly lower” than the 10,000 daily crossings recorded earlier in the week.
But he stressed that “it’s still too early” to make a diagnosis. “We are only on the third day,” he said, referring to the lifting of the mechanism known as “Title 42.” Mayorkas avoided any triumphalism.
Title 42, the norm that expired last Thursday, May 11 at 11:59 p.m. in Washington, allowed the immediate removal of migrants without visas or documentation, including asylum seekers, under the name of a health emergency.
To stem the massive influx of migrants after their insurgency, Democratic President Joe Biden’s government deployed thousands of police and military along the roughly 3,200 km that separates the United States and Mexico, and imposed new rules on asylum rights. Sanctions approved.
During the presidency of Donald Trump, the government used it to block approximately 2.8 million people from seeking asylum in the North American nation.
Later Sunday, Biden said his 42nd title outing was going “much better than everyone expected,” he told reporters during a bike ride near his home in Rehoboth, Delaware.
But he warned that “there is much work to be done” and scaled back his call for “more help from Congress”.
The Democratic president indicated he had no “short-term” plans to move to the southern border. “It would be troubling,” he said.
Before appearing at the border, immigrants must obtain a prior appointment through a mobile application for asylum applications, CBP One’s centralization, or their asylum application is denied in one of the transit countries.
Otherwise, they may be subject to expedited deportation proceedings in their home countries and a five-year ban on entry to U.S. territory.
“We are executing our plan exactly as we planned,” Mayorkas told ABC. “We have already expelled thousands of migrants: if they try to return, they face a five-year ban and possible criminal prosecution,” he insisted.
Republican Congressman Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, disputed the numbers.
“This week has seen more crossings than any other week in our history,” he told CNN. He attributed this to an increase in the number of people crossing the border before Title 42 expired.
