Migrant border encounters steady after Biden policies
The U.S. Border Patrol logged the lowest number of migrant encounters between ports of entry along the Southwestern border for the second consecutive month since February 2021, according to data released Wednesday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection attributed the continued drop to immigration policies announced in early January by the Biden administration. The measures increased border enforcement while establishing legal migration pathways for certain nationalities.
The number of encounters with migrants from the four countries under the new programs — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — continued to decrease in February. But encounters with migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, countries that have long been subjected to Title 42, increased in February, per CBP data.
“The new border enforcement measures kept February’s overall encounter numbers nearly even with January,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a written statement.
The number of unique individuals, which does not include repeat crossers, along the Southwestern border decreased by about 13% from January to February, according to CBP data.
Total nationwide migrant encounters increased slightly by about 2% from January to February. The total numbers include people who were processed at ports of entry through the CBP One mobile application, which allows asylum seekers to request exemptions from Title 42.
In February, CBP processed over 20,000 people through ports of entry using the new app. More than 40,000 people have scheduled an appointment through the app since it launched, according to CBP.
Migrant encounters fell by nearly 9% from January to February in the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector. In CBP’s Tucson Sector and Field Office, migrant encounters rose by nearly 16% from January to February.
The Biden administration’s new programs allow up to 30,000 people per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to be paroled into the U.S., if they have a qualifying sponsor and pass a rigorous background check.
Since the new measures were announced, the seven-day average of encounters of migrants from those four countries decreased by about 98% between ports of entry at the Southwest border, according to CBP.
In February, 22,755 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans were paroled into the U.S. through CBP’s Office of Field Operations.
In Arizona, migrants from those four countries were only encountered 955 times in February, according to CBP data.
Meanwhile, encounters of migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador increased by about 11% in Arizona from January to February.
Along the Southwestern border, encounters of migrants from these countries climbed from 89,013 encounters in January to 94,065 in February, per CBP data.