Border Patrol agents have seen a 50% drop in the number of migrants crossing from Mexico to the United States since Title 42 expired at midnight Thursday, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The numbers had increased in the period before the end of the pandemic restriction, exceeding 10,000 a day.
But Mayorkas said the number fell to 6,300 encounters on Friday and around 4,200 on Saturday.
“Over the past two days, the United States Border Patrol has experienced a 50% drop in encounters compared to what we were experiencing earlier in the week prior to the end of Title 42 at midnight Thursday,” a he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” ‘ program.
” It is still early. We are on the third day. But we have been planning this transition for months and months.
Border Patrol agents have seen a 50% drop in the number of migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
This was the scene Friday morning near the border wall outside Yuma, Arizona. It was deserted. Some 24 hours earlier, the queue of migrants awaiting processing was 300 people
He also appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to spread the message that the Biden administration had successfully announced that the country’s borders were not open.
DailyMail.com was at the border in Yuma, Arizona, on Thursday night when hundreds of people rushed to enter the United States before Title 42 ended.
But the next morning, the place was almost deserted. Experts said they believe migrants and smuggling gangs are trying to get to grips with a new set of immigration policies.
Mayorkas admitted it was still too early to say the numbers had peaked, but he said Washington’s message was getting through.
“We have communicated a vitally important message very clearly to people considering arriving at our southern border: there is a legal, safe and orderly way to get to the United States,” he said.
“It is through the avenues that President Biden has expanded in an unprecedented way.
“And then there’s a consequence of not using those legal avenues, and that consequence is deportation from the United States, deportation and a five-year re-entry ban, and possible criminal prosecution. .”
Title 42 was activated by the Trump administration to stem the spread of COVID-19. It is a public health measure that allows border authorities to immediately deport arrivals before they can even apply for asylum.
Immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, stuck in a makeshift camp between the border walls between the United States and Mexico, sit as a Customs and Border Protection officer watches while other migrants line up to be transported on May 13, 2023
But with the pandemic over, it finally expired Thursday at midnight EST.
The Biden administration has rushed through new restrictions, effectively reinstating Trump’s “transit ban,” which allows the deportation of arrivals who have not sought asylum in the countries through which they traveled.
Migrants can legally show up at the border if they used a mobile app, CBP One, to register in advance.
But there were hitches. An eleventh-hour legal challenge stalled plans to release migrants more quickly from Border Patrol detention.
The rapidly falling numbers will help ease the pressure on detention centers that were operating well beyond their capacity.
Nearly 300 newly arrived migrants were released by officials in Yuma, Ariz., on Friday, illustrating how border towns are struggling to cope with a huge surge in arrivals over the past week.
Nearly 300 newly arrived migrants were released by officials in Yuma, Arizona on Friday, illustrating how border towns are struggling to cope with a huge surge
Migrants were seen boarding buses in Yuma, Arizona, and coincided with the end of Title 42 and the lifting of a Trump-era restriction designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19
On Friday afternoon, three white buses with blacked-out windows drove into the Yuma Public Security Training Center near the city’s airport.
On Thursday, the mayor of Yuma announced that CBP plans to release migrants into the city who have not undergone full processing, though he insisted they have been “screened.”
And on Friday afternoon, three white buses with blacked-out windows drove into the Yuma Public Security Training Center near the city’s airport.
The location was a closely guarded secret, but DailyMail.com was on hand to witness the publication. A briefing document said 141 people were being released.
You could see streams of people exiting the buses and being directed to a shaded waiting area, where there was at least shelter from the 96F temperatures.
From there, it is understood that they will be put on buses to take them to Phoenix.
It followed a similar release of around 140 people to a separate location in Yuma and nearby San Luis in the morning.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines said the process was an admission that federal authorities simply couldn’t cope with.
“It’s unwinding and the federal government is relying on local and state government to do its job,” he said.
“This is another failure of the Biden administration to deal with a problem it created with its open border policy.”
