TUCSON, Arizona — The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that arrests for illegal border crossings fell by more than 40% during the three weeks that asylum-seeking processing was suspended.
The announcement comes a day before President Joe Biden is scheduled to debate former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in what is expected to be a key moment in the campaign.
Biden is considered particularly vulnerable by voters when it comes to immigration. Trump has repeatedly criticized him over border security, painting a picture of the border being out of control and immigrants being a threat to national security and the economy.
Biden has sought to crack down on new arrivals at the border and provide new immigration routes.
The restrictions he announced in early June would block access to asylum once a certain number of people arrive at the border, infuriating immigration advocates who say the policy is little different from what Trump has attempted. Then, a few weeks later, Biden announced a new program that could ultimately provide a path to citizenship for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years.
Figures released Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security show the Border Patrol’s average daily apprehensions over a seven-day period have fallen below 2,400, a more than 40% decline from before June 5, when Biden’s declaration went into effect. That’s still more than the 1,500 needed to resume asylum processing, but the Department of Homeland Security said it’s the lowest number since Jan. 17, 2021, shortly before Biden took office.0
Last week, when Customs and Border Protection released its monthly statistics, it said border arrests had decreased 25% since Biden’s order went into effect, meaning they have declined even further since then.
The monthly data release is a closely watched indicator of border security and how many people are coming to the U.S. southern border. The number fell by roughly half in January after hitting a record high in December and has remained in that range throughout the spring. Much of the decline was attributed to Mexican enforcement on the Mexican side of the border.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited the Tucson, Arizona area on Wednesday. This area has been the busiest corridor for illegal crossings over the past year. U.S. authorities said the seven-day average of daily arrests in the sector fell from less than 1,200 on June 2 to less than 600 on Tuesday.
Mayorkas declared the new rules restricting asylum a success during his visit.
“These measures are changing the calculus for people considering crossing the border,” the minister told reporters.
Under the asylum suspension, which goes into effect when the number of daily arrests exceeds 2,500, anyone who expresses fear or an intention to seek asylum will be screened by U.S. asylum officers, but to a higher standard than currently used. If you pass the screening, you can pursue a more limited form of humanitarian protection than asylum, such as the UN Convention against Torture.
Immigration advocates have filed a lawsuit to stop the restrictions.
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Santana reported from Washington.