Unauthorized migration across SW border slips

After a major influx of migrants overwhelmed the Southwestern border throughout much of the spring and summer, unauthorized crossings in October were down for the third straight month, federal authorities announced Monday, with the number of Haitians plummeting by more than 90%.

But the drop in Haitian apprehensions probably signals only a temporary pause, as tens of thousands of people from the troubled Caribbean nation were continuing to trek north from South America or were stalled in Mexico, still hoping to reach the United States, border analysts said.

The U.S. Border Patrol intercepted 164,303 people overall along the border with Mexico, a 14% decrease from September.

That included 902 Haitians, compared with more than 17,600 who crossed in September, many of them facing squalid conditions near

Del Rio, Texas, after wading across the Rio Grande. The September surge, which took place over a few days, posed an urgent challenge for the Biden administration, which responded with dozens of deportation flights that returned more than 8,500 Haitians to their home country, even as many other migrants were allowed to remain or were expelled a short distance across the border to Mexico.

Biden administration officials said that the deportations were consistent with its enforcement policy. But the sometimes harsh treatment and speedy removals have been condemned by human rights advocates, who said desperate migrants were being returned to a country ravaged by natural disasters and a political and security crisis.

“It’s clear that the recent spike in Haitian expulsions provided a short-term deterrent,” said Jessica Bolter, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. “It’s less clear that it will have a long-term effect.”