'Much better than you expected', says US President Biden as migrant crossings drop by 50% after Title 42 expiry
Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas said that the criminal penalties for migrants who illegally enter the country, which resumed after the expiration of Trump-era Title 42, are the main reason behind the massive drop in crossings
A migrant from Colombia seeking asylum in the U.S. stands at the Paso Del Norte international bridge between Mexico and the United States, after the lifting of COVID-19 era Title 42 restrictions that have blocked migrants at the border from seeking asylum since 2020, in Ciudad Juarez. Reuters
Migrant crossings in the US have dropped by 50 per cent since the Trump-era Title 42 expired on Thursday.
The US Homeland Security stated that after the Biden administration reinstated criminal penalties for illegal entry via the US-Mexico border, migrant crossings dropped by half.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN, “The numbers we have experienced in the past two days are markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42.”
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He said there were 6,300 border encounters on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday, but cautioned it was still early in the new regime.
Mayorkas said that the criminal penalties for migrants who illegally enter the country, which resumed after the expiration of Trump-era Title 42, are the main reason behind the massive drop in crossings.
‘Much better’
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that the situation at the US-Mexico border is “much better than you all expected.”
Biden added that he has no immediate plans to visit the border.
The migrant processing plans announced by the Biden administration require asylum seekers to book an appointment through an app or seek protection from countries they passed through on their way to the US border.
If anyone is caught crossing the border illegally, he or she will not be allowed to apply for immigration again for five years. There are prison terms for other violations.
Mayorkas added, “There is a lawful, safe and orderly way to arrive in the United States. That is through the pathways that President Biden has expanded in an unprecedented way, and then there’s a consequence if one does not use those lawful pathways.”
Border patrol officers have confirmed that as opposed to what was expected, they have not seen large-scale crossings along the borders.
“The amount of migrants we were expecting initially – the big flow – is not here yet,” Victor Trevino, mayor of Laredo, Texas, told CBS News.
Republicans say ‘surge on its way’
However, Republicans have warned that the worse is yet to come and that a surge in crossings could still be on the way.
Republican Representative Michael McCaul said, “I do think there are caravans going up. I think they still want to get in.”
The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said, “What the secretary failed to say is, this week has seen more crossings than any time, any week, in our history.”
What was Title 42?
In March 2020 when the onset of the Covid pandemic was impending, former President Donald Trump introduced Title 42, an emergency health authority to deter migrants from entering US.
The order allowed border officials to turn away migrants who came to the US-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
With inputs from agencies
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