US Projects Record Year for Southern Border Migrant Arrivals
The United States is on track to see the highest number of migrant arrivals since records began, with 2M people expected to have crossed illegally by the end of the year.
Facts
- The United States is on track to see the highest number of migrant arrivals since records began, with 2M people expected to have crossed illegally by the end of the year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Mon. released their data for July, showing that 1.8M people have arrived in the U.S. so far this fiscal year.1
- In July, CBP logged 134K arrests of single adult migrants. 48% of these arrests were expelled under the pandemic-era Title 42 program.2
- Total arrests registered a 6% drop from June and a nearly 19% drop from May when the agency recorded over 224K apprehensions, which was a historic monthly high.2
- An additional 18,424 migrants were processed at official U.S. border ports of entry in July, including asylum-seekers allowed to enter the country on humanitarian grounds, according to CBP data.3
- While migrant arrivals from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador dropped last month, arrests of migrants from other countries, such as Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, remained steady or increased significantly.3
- CBP characterized an overall two-month decrease in migrant encounters as "a positive trend and the first two-month drop since October 2021."4
Sources: 1Daily Mail, 2CBS, 3The Wall Street Journal and 4New York Post.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by New York Post. Biden has pledged to reverse many of the hardline immigration policies of former Pres. Trump, but has struggled with record-high attempted border crossings. His unwise rollback of these policies has encouraged even more illegal immigration and has led to the current crisis.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Vox. Although Biden is often blamed for the current migration numbers, the majority of the crossings happened under Trump-era policies. Title 42 was intended to deter migration into the U.S. during the COVID pandemic, but it has created a crisis instead. This situation was incubated under Trump’s initiatives and ideology.
- Cynical narrative, as provided by CBS. The pandemic hit Latin American economies harder than any other region in the world, forcing millions of people out of work, while in the U.S. the post-COVID rebound created a strong demand for the kinds of low-paying jobs migrants usually take. This is not a political issue but rather a matter of global supply and demand for labor.
