Border migration falls for 2nd month in a row, but annual total set to exceed 2 million

Apprehensions of migrants by the U.S. Border Patrol along the entire southwest border decreased 6% in July, but annual total is on pace to exceed 2 million.

Migrants were caught about 182,000 times in July, compared with 193,000 in June. Fiscal year 2022 has already exceeded the previous year with Border Patrol catching migrants 1.8 million times with two months left in the fiscal year. The annual total will likely exceed 2 million and the previous Border Patrol high of 1.6 million was in 2000.

Of those caught, though, 22 % had been apprehended at least once before in July, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol. Therefore, arrests of migrants don’t equate to a migrant tally, CBP officials say.

Under a pandemic-related health order, known as Title 42, migrants face no legal consequences for multiple attempts across the border and that has inflated numbers some, experts note. President Joe Biden attempted to lift the health order on May 23 but was blocked after a suit in a Louisiana federal court by more than 20 states, including Arizona and Texas. The initiative was launched in March of 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“This marks the second month in a row of decreased encounters along the Southwest border,” said CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus in a prepared statement. “While the encounter numbers remain high, this is a positive trend…”

Magnus credited a CBP digital advertising campaign aimed at curbing the use of smugglers among migrants due to the dangers. Two-thirds of those crossing the southwest border were single adults–a demographic most likely to be quickly expelled under Title 42.

CBP emphasized that those who attempt to enter the U.S. “without authorization, and who are unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States (such as a valid asylum claim), will be quickly removed.” Those individuals could be subject to “long-term consequences” such as bars to future immigration benefits, CBP said.

CBP credited the high overall migration to Title 42, in a statement.

Adam Isacson, a security analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, noted that Title 42 was most likely to be used on Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans, but rarely on people from other countries. Title 42 created a revolving door at the southwest border for migrants from those four countries. That’s due to the lack of legal consequences, Isacson said. “They just take you right to the line and you start over,” Isacson said.

The border decrease comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hammers on migration and border security. In March of 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star aimed at curbing migration in a series of escalating initiatives that ranged from arresting migrants on private property for trespassing to inspections of commercial vehicles. More than $4 billion has been spent on the initiatives.

The Rio Grande Valley and the Del Rio/Eagle Pass regions continue to be the busiest along the entire stretch of the border. Del Rio/Eagle Pass led the nation as the busiest region in July and June, but overall the Rio Grande Valley has been the busiest for this year, according to CBP data.