Associated Press is reporting that illegal border crossing into the United States from Mexico fell by half in January following record highs in December. This is the third lowest month of illegal border crossing arrests under Biden's presidency.
Immigration is one of the biggest issues leading into the 2024 presidential election. So, this comes as some good news for the Biden administration. Exit polls reportedly show immigration is the top concern for many Republican voters in the early primaries.
Somewhat ironically, this news comes a day after House Republicans voted to impeach U.S. Homeland Security Secretary T Mayorkas for dereliction of duty in securing the border with Mexico.
Acting U.S. Customers and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller told AP that the declines are seasonal but also due to heightened enforcement efforts by the United States and its allies. He also repeatedly praised Mexico for their crackdown, which was launched in late December.
Arrests by Border Patrol were at 249, 735 in December but fell to 124,220 in January. Arrests of Venezuelans dropped by 91% in January to 4,422.
Tuscan, Arizona was the busiest area for attempted illegal crossings with 50,565 arrests made in January. However, this is down by 37% from December. Arrests for attempted illegal crossings fell in Eagle Pass, Texas by 76% in January.
"We continue to experience serious challenges along our border which surpass the capacity of the immigration system," Miller said.
The only months under Biden's presidency with fewer border arrests were June 2023 and February 2021.
During an interview with AP in January, Alejandro Mayorkas stated that Mexico's immigration enforcement agency did not have the funds to carry out enforcement actions in December but the problem had been rectified. There has been an immediate drop in the arrests for illegal border crossings since then.
When adding migrants who were allowed to enter the United States under new or expanded legal guidelines, migrant "encounters" went to 176,205 in January after topping 300,000 for the first time in December.
U.S. authorities admitted about 45,000 people at land crossings with Mexico in January through an online appointment system called CBP One, bringing the total to 459,118 since it was introduced a year earlier.
