A group of people wait to be processed after crossing the border between Mexico and the United States as they sought asylum in April 2024, near Jacumba, California.
Gregory Bull/AP
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Gregory Bull/AP
A group of people wait to be processed after crossing the border between Mexico and the United States as they sought asylum in April 2024, near Jacumba, California.
Gregory Bull/AP
WASHINGTON – Arrests for illegally crossing the U.S. border from Mexico fell more than 6% in April to the fourth-lowest month under the Biden administration, authorities said Wednesday, contrasting an increase usually in spring.
U.S. officials largely attribute the decline to stricter law enforcement in Mexico, including at yards where migrants often board cargo ships. Mexico will not allow more than 4,000 illegal border crossings into the United States each day, Alicia Barcena, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, told reporters on Tuesday, down from more than 10,000 Border Patrol arrests in some days in December.
Migrants were apprehended 128,884 times in April, down from 137,480 in March and just half the record high of 249,737 in December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. While still at historically high levels, the sharp drop in arrests since late December is welcome news for President Joe Biden on a key issue that has vexed him in polls this year. vote.
San Diego became the busiest of the nine Border Patrol sectors along the Mexican border for the first time since the 1990s with 37,370, replacing Tucson, Arizona.
Troy Miller, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said more enforcement, including deportations, and cooperation with other countries has led to the lower numbers.
“As a result of this increased enforcement, encounters at the southwest border have not increased, reversing previous trends,” he said. We will continue to be vigilant to continually change migration patterns.”
Authorities granted entry permits to 41,400 people in April at land crossings with Mexico through an online appointment app called CBP One, bringing the total to more than 591,000 people since the launch of the app. introduced in January 2023.
The United States also allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans if they register online with a fiscal sponsor and arrive on commercial flights. About 435,000 people entered the country throughout April, including 91,000 Cubans, 166,700 Haitians, 75,700 Nicaraguans and 101,200 Venezuelans.
