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  4. Border Encounters Remain Low as Biden-Harris Administration’s Comprehensive Plan to Manage the Border After Title 42 in Effect

Border Encounters Remain Low as Biden-Harris Administration’s Comprehensive Plan to Manage the Border After Title 42 in Effect

Release Date: June 6, 2023

Since the CDC’s Title 42 public health Order lifted and the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive plan to manage the border went into full effect on May 12, DHS has continued to experience a significant reduction in encounters at the Southwest Border.

As a result of planning and execution—which combined stiffer consequences for unlawful entry with a historic expansion of lawful pathways and processes—unlawful entries between ports of entry along the Southwest Border have decreased by more than 70 percent since May 11. DHS has overseen significant expansions in lawful pathways even as we have repatriated a significant number of migrants.

From May 12 to June 2, 2023, DHS repatriated over 38,400 noncitizens under Title 8 authorities, including single adults and families, to more than 80 countries. This includes over 1,400 noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who were returned to Mexico under Title 8 authorities—the first time in our bilateral history that the Government Mexico has allowed the repatriation of non-Mexican nationals at the border under Title 8 authorities.

Thousands more are being detained by CBP and ICE and processed by USCIS to assess their asylum claims under the new Circumvention of Lawful Pathways regulation. Those found not to have a credible fear have been and will continue to be expeditiously removed.

Since May 12:

  • CBP has averaged 3,400 US Border Patrol (USBP) encounters in between ports of entry per day and fewer than 300 non-CBP One Office of Field Operations (OFO) encounters at ports of entry per day, for a total of approximately 3,700 unscheduled encounters per day.
  • The top 3 nationalities encountered during this most recent period, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of encounters, were:
    • Mexico 1,200 encounters/day
    • Honduras 520 encounters/day
    • Guatemala 360 encounters/day
  • Nearly 14,000 credible fear referrals were received by USCIS and over 11,500 credible fear interviews were completed. USCIS has already conducted a record number of interviews over the past three weeks, and these numbers will continue to increase as our processes further scale.
  • Through CBP One, an average of 1,070 noncitizens presented in a safe and orderly manner at a port of entry each day to be processed during their scheduled appointment time. CBP has, as of June 1, expanded the number of appointments available to 1,250 each day.
    • The top 3 nationalities with CBP One appointments were: Haiti, Mexico, and Venezuela.
  • An additional 23,000 vetted and sponsored Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals arrived in the United States through the parole processes we announced in January 2023.

The Administration’s plan is working as intended. We are cognizant, however, that the conditions in the hemisphere that are driving unprecedented movements of people are still present and that the cartels and coyotes will continue to spread disinformation about any potential changes to policies at the border in order to put migrants’ lives at risk for profit. We will remain vigilant and continue to execute our plan, making adjustments where needed.

Surges in migration have been a regular occurrence for more than a decade under Republican and Democratic Administrations. Presidents of both parties have attempted to use their executive authorities to address these challenges—as we have. This, in turn, has invited litigation from both sides of the political spectrum and has resulted in courts across the country dictating border and immigration policy in ways that are contradictory and detrimental to our ability to manage the border. 

It is abundantly clear that executive action cannot solve the entrenched challenge of migration in our region, and that neither party can address its impact on our border by itself. Until and unless Congress comes together in a bipartisan way to address our broken immigration and asylum system, we will continue to see surges in migration at our border.

Last Updated: 06/06/2023
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