At the current rate, border arrests could be the lowest since February 2021, a month after Biden took office. But it’s not yet clear whether the trend will hold through the rest of the month, and well beyond.
Biden, a Democrat who intends to seek re-election in 2024, earlier this month expanded Covid-19-related restrictions that allow migrants stuck at the US-Mexico border to be quickly expelled back into the country. Mexican.
The restrictions, known as Title 42, had previously applied to Mexicans, some Central Americans and Venezuelans and were extended to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans after Mexico accepted those nationalities.
At the same time, the Biden administration launched a new humanitarian entry program for 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans per month if they have US sponsors and enter by air.
“The process we have created is safe, fast and only costs the price of a commercial airline ticket,” said a Biden administration official. “Compared to the thousands of dollars smugglers charge migrants for a dangerous journey, the choice is clear.”
(David Peinado/Dark Room)
Several US officials said border arrests typically drop from late December to early January due to holidays, which likely contributed to the January drop.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Border Patrol agents apprehended 206,000 migrants at the southwest border in November.
The December figures, which are not yet publicly available, could be higher after a spike in arrivals last month in El Paso, Texas.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson. Editing in Spanish by Marion Giraldo)
