EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The federal government officially confirmed on Monday what multiple national news outlets have been reporting for almost two weeks – apprehensions of undocumented migrants at the border plummeted in June.
The acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Border Patrol migrant encounters between ports of entry declined 29 percent from May to June.
He attributed that to President Biden’s executive order of June 4, which established a policy of removing those who come into the country between lawful ports of entry when daily averages reach a certain threshold.
“Recent border security measures have made a meaningful impact on our ability to impose consequences for those crossing unlawfully,” Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller said. “We continue to work with international criminal organizations that traffic in chaos and prioritize profit over human lives.”
CBP says an average of 1,900 people are crossing the border daily, a 50 percent-plus drop in the past six weeks.
The agency also said the Department of Homeland Security has removed 70,000 migrants from 170 countries since June 5. “Total removals and returns over the past year exceed removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010, and a majority of all Southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in removal, return or expulsion,” CBP said in a statement Monday.
Border Patrol encounters in June totaled 83,536, with an additional 5,076 migrants who showed up without CBP One asylum appointments being apprehended at ports of entry. That is the lowest monthly total since January 2021, CBP said.
The agency did not say how many migrants showed up with online asylum appointments at ports of entry in June. NewsNation’s Ali Bradley reported 46,870 migrants showed up at ports of entry in June, but most had asylum appointments.
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