U.S. border officials apprehended more than 200,000 illegal immigrants at the southern border during May, when Title 42 immigration policies expired, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on June 20.
The 204,561 total arrests is a 15 percent decrease from May 2022, when agents apprehended 241,136.
Border Patrol stated that 98,850 individuals illegally crossed the southwest border from May 1 to May 11, ahead of the expiration of Title 42—a COVID-19-era authority that allowed border officials to turn away and expel migrants from the United States.
After May 11, another 70,394 illegal immigrants were arrested, according to Border Patrol.
CBP also stated that 28,696 individuals indicated they had scheduled appointments to begin the border entry process through the CBP One app, which the agency has been using to manage the influx of illegal immigrants.
White House Says Plan Is Working
The Biden administration has claimed early successes in addressing illegal immigration at the U.S.–Mexico border since Title 42 ended.
In a May 14 interview, less than three full days after Title 42 expired, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said U.S. border authorities “experienced a 50 percent drop in the number of encounters,” compared to the days before the policy ended.
In addition to ending Title 42 policies, the Biden administration has implemented the CBP One app and new parole policies for people seeking to enter the United States. At the same time, the Biden administration has warned illegal border crossers that they risk being disqualified from future entry. The Biden administration has also proposed an asylum rule (pdf) under which asylum applicants are presumed to be ineligible if they didn’t first seek asylum or other legal protections in any country they passed through on their way to the United States.
“As a result of comprehensive planning and preparation efforts, there has been a significant reduction in encounters along the Southwest border since the return to full Title 8 immigration enforcement on May 12,” Acting CBP Commissioner Troy A. Miller said on June 20.
“As we continue to execute our plans—including delivering strengthened consequences for those who cross unlawfully while expanding access to lawful pathways and processes—we will continue to monitor changes in encounter trends and adjust our response as necessary.”
Republicans Doubt Border Figures
Republican lawmakers have questioned the true efficacy of the Biden administration’s border policies.
At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) asserted there have been about 1.5 million people known to have illegally crossed the border but then evaded Border Patrol agents, dubbed as “known gotaways.” Higgins said the number of “unknown gotaways” could be double that of the “known gotaways.”
Republican states have filed multiple lawsuits challenging the Biden-era asylum policies. The stated goal of the Biden-era asylum rule is to create a rebuttable presumption that applicants are ineligible for asylum in the United States if they didn’t apply for asylum in other countries through which they passed first.
However, an 18-state lawsuit (pdf) argues that the asylum rule actually incentivizes illegal immigrants to make “bogus asylum claims.” The same lawsuit argues that there are several ways illegal immigrants can easily rebut the presumption of asylum ineligibility, rendering the Biden administration policy “toothless.”