Iran Press/ America: The number of people caught crossing the border illegally since Title 42 ended on Friday dropped sharply from highs last week, US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official Blas Nunez-Neto said on a call with reporters.
Apprehensions have dropped as Biden implemented a higher standard for asylum applications at the border and opened up new legal pathways for migrants abroad, while countries further south have stepped up border security, Nunez-Neto said.
Nunez-Neto said migrants crossing illegally "now face tougher consequences at the border, including a minimum five-year bar on re-entry and the potential to be criminally prosecuted if they try again."
According to Reuters, after Title 42 ended at midnight on Thursday, some asylum seekers said they were told by US authorities they could not enter until they applied for an appointment on a new app known as CBP One.
Biden, a Democrat seeking re-election in 2024, has grappled with record numbers of border crossings since he took office in 2021. Republicans fault him for rolling back some of the more restrictive policies of Republican former President Donald Trump, currently his party's front runner for the presidential nomination.
Some Democrats and asylum officers have internally expressed concerns with the rapid rollout of Biden's new asylum standard and said it undercuts the right to claim asylum under US law and international treaties, as well as Biden's own campaign promises. Immigration advocates are suing in an effort to halt the new regulation, which they say mirrors similar Trump policies blocked in court.
US border officials had cautioned for months that the end of Title 42 restrictions, in place since March 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic, could lead to a rise in illegal crossings. Title 42 allowed US authorities to expel migrants to Mexico or other countries without the chance to request US asylum.
The Biden administration has also expanded legal pathways that allow more people to enter the US without crossing illegally, including the CBP One appointments and applications available abroad for humanitarian parole and refugee status.
Crossings halved
The number of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally dropped to an average of 5,000 per day since Title 42 ended, down from daily highs of more than 10,000 last week, Nunez-Neto said, cautioning that the situation "is very fluid."
"This is a continuously evolving situation that we are monitoring in real time," he said.
"We are processing people safely, orderly and humanely, and quickly delivering consequences to those that do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States," Nunez-Neto added.
Mexico and Guatemala have toughened enforcement at their own southern borders with military personnel, while Panama and Colombia have clamped down on smuggling networks, Nunez-Neto said.
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