May 27, 2024
We are still experiencing challenges along the borders and the nation’s immigration system is not appropriately resourced to handle them, so we continue to call on Congress to take action that would provide our personnel with additional resources and tools.
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) senior official performing the duties of the Commissioner, Troy Miller, in the agency’s press release on 247,000 + encounters of people attempting entry into the U.S. along the northern and southwest borders in April 2024.
What To Know: The United States continues to experience a historic pace of people attempting entry along the nation’s borders. Encounters along the southwest border decreased 5% from March to April, with 179,725 encounters (down from 189,300+). While encounters decreased along the southwest border, they increased by 3% along the northern border (16,750 total encounters, up from 16,200+). People encountered along both the northern and southwest borders without legal status or legal permission to enter the country were processed under immigration law (Title 8) – meaning they were either allowed to stay in the U.S. pursuing asylum, detained, or removed with no legal basis to remain.
Why The Decrease? Officials largely attribute the decrease in encounters at the southwest border to a “crackdown” on immigration within Mexico. However, concerns remain regarding how Mexico will sustain enforcement. Border security analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America, Adam Isacson, stated, “The real question is when does the dam burst in Mexico?”
Big Picture: “Faced with the possibility of another influx – and the lack of progress passing immigration reforms in Congress – the Biden administration is reportedly mulling a broad executive order that would dramatically limit the number of asylum seekers at the border and essentially shut it down if migrant figures rise above a certain point” (BBC).
Read More: Migrant crossings plunge at US-Mexico border – why it may not last (BBC)
A quieter border eases pressure on Biden, with a hand from Mexico (The Washington Post)
CBP Releases April 2024 Monthly Update (U.S. CBP)
Interactive Charts from CBP: Southwest Land Border Encounters, Nationwide Encounters
by Leah Grainery, based in Texas
