The Biden administration announced Wednesday that border encounters with migrants are down 40 percent three weeks after President Biden’s order halting asylum processing.
The Border Patrol’s seven-day encounter average is down to fewer than 2,400 encounters per day, which is 40 percent less than before the asylum restrictions were announced June 4 and the lowest level of encounters since Jan. 17, 2021, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The decrease is a political boost for Biden, who has faced relentless attacks from the GOP over chaos at the U.S. southern border, and the new data was announced just a day before the first presidential debate against former President Trump.
The White House bashed Republicans on Wednesday for not acting on immigration to tout the 40 percent plunge.
“Meanwhile, Republican officials twice blocked the toughest bipartisan border security deal in modern American history, siding with fentanyl traffickers, human smugglers, and – in their own words – Donald Trump, over the Border Patrol Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and border mayors from both parties who all endorsed the bipartisan agreement,” senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
He added, “President Biden will keep leading including by taking action to secure our border and by calling on Congressional Republican to do their jobs and pass the bipartisan border security bill.”
The DHS also announced Wednesday it has removed and returned more than 24,000 individuals to more than 20 countries, including by operating more than 100 international repatriation flights. The department has also doubled the percentage of noncitizens removed or returned directly from Border Patrol custody, and it has decreased the number of people released pending their removal proceedings by over 65 percent, per the release.
Last week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that preliminary data showed a 25 percent decrease in migrant encounters.
Under Biden’s asylum order, most migrants encountered between ports of entry are not screened for asylum claims, and they can be subject to quick expulsion to Mexico, accelerated deportation procedures to their home country and criminal and administrative consequences.
Official CBP data from before the asylum crackdown shows encounters have plateaued since January at levels similar to or slightly below the average for late winter and spring throughout the Biden administration.