Vice President Harris visits the Arizona border. Is the number of migration crossings increasing or decreasing?

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign visit to the Arizona border on Friday came as the number of people crossing the southern border illegally dropped significantly from record numbers of illegal border crossings earlier in the Biden administration.

Many factors contribute to the recent decline in illegal border crossings, including a new policy introduced in June by the Biden administration that bars people from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they enter illegally beyond official ports of entry, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, DC

Asylum seekers should enter through official ports of entry by making an appointment using a free cellphone app called CBP One. However, only a limited number of CBP One appointments are available at ports of entry each day.

The Biden administration’s policy, activated during a high number of illegal border crossings, was aimed at curbing the vast number of asylum seekers – many of them families from multiple countries – illegally crossing into the United States and turning themselves over to Border Patrol agents.

Previously, asylum seekers who crossed the border illegally and turned themselves in to agents were processed at the border and then often released into the United States to await the outcome of their asylum cases, a process that could take years due to the massive backlog immigration courts.

Currently, asylum seekers who cross the border illegally risk being quickly deported and losing their ability to seek asylum in the future, Putzel-Kavanaugh said.

But even before the Biden administration’s policies were implemented in June, increased immigration enforcement in Mexico under U.S. pressure was already making it more difficult for migrants to travel through the country and reach the U.S. border, Putzel-Kavanaugh said.

The implementation by some South American countries of new visa restrictions that make it more difficult for U.S.-bound migrants to reach the hemisphere by plane has also led to a decline in the number of asylum seekers reaching the southern border, Putzel-Kavanaugh said.

Through August of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the Border Patrol recorded about 1.4 million encounters along the southwest border.

This represents a 19% decline from 1.8 million Border Patrol encounters during the same period in fiscal 2023 and a 26% decline from nearly 2 million encounters during the same period in fiscal 2022, according to an analysis of Border Patrol data. .

In August, Border Patrol recorded about 58,000 encounters across the border, up from about 181,000 in August 2023 and 2022, and 196,000 in 2021.

The decline in the number of people illegally crossing the border between ports of entry has led to a corresponding decline in the number of asylum seekers released into the country. In August, the Border Patrol issued 9,936 notices to appear in immigration court for asylum seekers, a sharp decline from the 122,648 notices issued in December 2023.

Harris is scheduled to visit Douglas, a border town in southeastern Arizona across from Agua Prieta, Mexico.

Douglas is located in the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol.

The number of people crossing the border illegally has also dropped sharply in the Tucson sector in recent months. However, Border Patrol data shows that this sector, which covers most of the state’s southern border, remains one of the busiest for illegal border crossings along the southwest border.

Data shows that in July and August of this year, the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector recorded approximately 12,000 encounters each month, a huge drop from a high of 80,000 encounters in December 2023, data shows.

However, from October 2023 to August 2024, approximately 453,000 encounters were recorded in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. Data shows this is the highest number of encounters among all nine Border Patrol southwest border sectors and a 40% year-over-year increase.

Border Patrol data shows that in August, the Tucson Sector accounted for nearly one in three unauthorized migrants encountered by Border Patrol along the entire southwest border.

However, Border Patrol data shows that in July and August, the number of encounters in the San Diego and El Paso sectors increased above the number of encounters in the Tucson sector.

Reception reporter at [email protected].