Number of refugees Southern border June fell sharply in the first full month since the end of the Title 42 public health order and as the Biden administration implements a post-Title 42 strategy — bringing the number to the lowest in two years.
There were 144,571 immigrant encounters in June, compared to 207,834 in June last year and 189,034 in June 2021. In June 2020, there were only 33,049 at the border.
While those numbers are still historically high (June’s numbers are still higher than any month since the 2019 border crisis) they mark a sharp decline from the 206,702 seen in May and 211,999 in April — when many experts and observers expected a spike in refugee fears when Title 412 expired in May.
But the end of the public health order, which allowed for speedy deportations of immigrants at the border, was accompanied by a carrot-and-stick approach by the Biden administration, which ramped up border measures with significantly expanded programs to parole immigrants by the tens of thousands.
Immigrants trying to enter the United States from Mexico approach a site where workers are assembling buoys to be used as a border barrier along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP/Eric Gay)
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The cornerstone of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ post-Title 42 strategy was an asylum rule that would make immigrants ineligible for asylum if they entered the United States illegally and failed to claim asylum in other countries they passed through. It has also increased the use of rapid removal and “credible fear” screening.
Related is the requirement that people entering the U.S. at the border schedule an appointment through the controversial CBP One App. Initially, there were 1,000 appointments a day for immigrants who were paroled in the US, but that number has since increased. 1,450 per day.
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Meanwhile, other programs allow migrants to pass without having to travel to the border. Allows 30,000 citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to travel directly to the United States a month, while the United States has also established processing centers in Central America and recently expanded family reunification programs for relatives of citizens and permanent residents of certain countries.
The strategy has drawn criticism from the right and the left, with left-wing groups challenging the asylum rule in court, arguing that it unlawfully limits the right of foreign nationals to claim asylum. Meanwhile, conservative states Blame the management Abusing the parole system to allow immigrants to enter in their tens of thousands, noting that Congress says the use of force for urgent humanitarian reasons or important public benefit is to be used on a “case-by-case” basis. Also, a May policy that would have allowed overcrowding immigrants to be released into the U.S. was blocked in May after a Florida lawsuit.
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The Biden administration says the new numbers show its strategy is working. He pointed to statistics showing that there were 99,545 encounters of illegal immigrants by the Border Patrol – a 42 percent decrease from May.
“With our continued efforts to enforce findings under our long-standing Title 8 authorities, expanding access to legal avenues and processes, the number of immigrant encounters along the Southwest border is at its lowest level in more than two years. We will remain vigilant,” said Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.
But former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan pushed back, saying the numbers are “well above the Trump administration” and that the Biden administration “continues to underperform in 2019-2020.”
“A far cry from about 4,000 won a day. When Meyerkas was under-deputy secretary. [Obama-era Secretary] Jay Johnson, if there were more than 1,000 people a day, we’d all be called,” said Homan, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “If you really see the meaning of that ‘low’ number, it’s because of the fact that they’ve illegally paroled more than half a million people in the country in about two years. Compare this number to any time in our history. Violating parole authority to allow historic numbers of illegal immigrants to enter the United States, all as part of a deliberate effort to misrepresent the border crisis, is abhorrent.”
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Meanwhile, some Republican states are taking matters into their own hands to deal with the crisis. Earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the deployment of a new water barrier to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the state, while both Texas and Florida have implemented immigrant transportation programs under “conservation” jurisdictions.
Source by [Fox News]
