Illegal crossings at U.S. southern border reach lowest point of Biden presidency

Source: CBS News

Updated on: October 7, 2024 / 8:27 AM EDT


The number of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally at the southern border reached the lowest point of President Biden's administration in September, three months into his crackdown on asylum claims, according to internal Department of Homeland Security statistics obtained by CBS News.

In September, U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 54,000 apprehensions of migrants who crossed into the country between legal entry points along the border with Mexico, the government figures show. It's a smaller figure than the previous Biden-era low in July, when Border Patrol processed roughly 56,000 migrants who crossed the border without authorization.

Border Patrol's tally of migrant apprehensions in September is the lowest number recorded by the agency since August 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions countries enacted in response to it led to a sharp decrease in migration to the U.S. southern border. It's also a 78% drop from a record high in December, when illegal border crossings soared to 250,000.

U.S. immigration officials processed another 48,000 migrants in September at legal border entry points, known as ports of entry, according to the internal federal data. Most of them secured appointments to enter the U.S. via a phone app the Biden administration has transformed into the main gateway into the American asylum system.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-mexico-border-migrant-crossings-reach-new-biden-era-low/