EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – As a regional migrant processing hub, El Paso often reflects what’s going on in other parts of the border.
When a surge overwhelms border agents in Southern Arizona, migrants are sent by the busload to Northeast El Paso’s massive soft-sided facility. When thousands of asylum seekers line the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass or Del Rio, Texas, flights head west to El Paso hours or days later.
That explains why a little more than two weeks ago, the population at El Paso’s migrant processing facilities topped at around 4,800 despite daily local apprehensions in the 1,000 to 1,100 range. At that time, migrant surges were being reported in Lukeville, Arizona, and the Del Rio Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol – with buses and planes headed this way.
On Monday, the City of El Paso’s migrant dashboard website reported 1,246 migrants at area processing centers and 339 daily apprehensions, a massive drop from just two weeks ago. This coincides with declines in migrant traffic being reported throughout the Southwest.
“After breaking records before the holidays, arrivals of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped sharply, at least for the moment,” reported Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA). “Border Patrol apprehended 2,500 migrants on Jan. 1, down from over 10,000 during several days in mid-December.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection also resumed operations at one international bridge in Eagle Pass and three in Arizona and California that were suspended at the height of the latest migrant surge.
Experts say the Biden administration is attributing the decline to “enhanced enforcement actions” including deportation flights to Venezuela by the Mexican government. Border Report previously reported how a crackdown on migrants riding trains from Central Mexico to the U.S. border has forced those who want to go on to do so on foot.
The Border Patrol separately confirmed a local decline in migrant apprehensions.
The agency said it encountered an average of 468 migrants in the El Paso region during the first week of 2024.
“Despite the decline in numbers, El Paso Sector continues to remain prepared in case we experience another influx of migrants,” the agency said in a statement to Border Report. “The U.S. Border Patrol continues to enforce U.S. immigration law and applies consequences to those who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States.”
When the next in a series of migrant surges dating back to the start of the Biden administration will happen is not known. However, the latest news from Mexico is that a massive caravan in Southern Mexico that dispersed before New Year’s Eve is reforming and again on its way to the U.S. border.
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