Us-mexico migrant crossings likely to spike

WASHINGTON – Migrants attempted to cross the U.s.-mexico border at the highest level in two decades as the U.S. prepares for even larger numbers with the expected lifting of a pandemic-era order that turned away asylum seekers.

Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 34% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data filed with a federal court in Texas.

The new figures were disclosed as the Biden administration comes under increasing pressure over the looming expiration of a public health order that enabled U.S. authorities to turn back most migrants, including people seeking asylum from persecution.

The number of migrant encounters has gone up nearly every month since President Joe Biden took office, becoming fodder for political opponents who point to the increase as evidence that this administration is weaker on border security than its predecessor.

A backlog of people waiting outside the country to seek asylum, as well as dire economic and political conditions in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, is partially responsible for the increase in migrants. Administration critics blame Biden, arguing his administration’s moves to roll back Trump-era policies has encouraged people to come.

The number of illegal crossings, or those outside official ports of entry, totaled 209,906 in March, surpassing the previous high of Biden’s presidency of 200,658 set in July, and the highest level since March 2000, when it reached 220,063.

Former President Donald Trump also faced a sharp increase in migrant border crossings but the number plummeted with the start of the pandemic. In March 2020, the previous administration invoked Title 42, a little-used public health authority to quickly expel nearly anyone encountered along the Southwest border.