A border patrol vehicle drives along the border wall in Douglas, Ariz. January 2021.
Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector apprehended just over 8,000 people entering the country unauthorized in November and less than 47,000 people across the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the lowest it’s been since COVID-lows in the summer of 2020.
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, with the Migration Policy Institute, says the numbers have gone down for numerous reasons, including a series of carrot-and-stick executive approaches, pairing increased enforcement with options for more orderly and safe migration.
“The increased enforcement limited access to asylum for irregular border arrivals, while options for orderly migration, like the CBP One app, which allowed migrants traversing through Mexico to make an appointment to be screened for entry to the country at a point of entry along the border, or the nationality specific parole program like the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan parole program,” she says.
Another major factor was increased enforcement throughout the western hemisphere, such as stepped up enforcement by Mexican officials, which has made it harder for people to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.
“These approaches — seen by some as too little too late, and by others as too restrictive — along with efforts to curb migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, did cause a major shift in migrant border arrivals,” she said.
Migration Policy Institute says the number of people deported under Biden and Trump is now equal at 1.5 million
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