by Jennie Taer
The Biden administration is expelling a lower percentage of migrants to Mexico compared to the month before Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion order, ended, NBC News reported Wednesday.
An average of roughly 1,000 migrants, which is about 14% of illegal migrants crossing the southern border daily in July, are being returned to Mexico each day since Title 42 ended May 11, according to NBC News. That number is down from roughly 3,000 expulsions, which is a daily average of 32% of illegal migrants, per day in April.
Title 42 allowed border authorities to quickly expel roughly 2 million illegal migrants crossing the southern border illegally, according to federal data. Notably, it increased the percentage of migrants encountered by federal border authorities more than once, increasing from 7% in 2019 to an average of 27% in 2020 and 2021, according to the National Immigration Forum.
In January, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that Mexico would accept roughly 30,000 illegal migrants per month that U.S. authorities expelled. He also pledged the enhanced use of “expedited removal” for illegal migrants who do not have credible fear claims.
“We can provide humanitarian relief consistent with our values, cut out vicious smuggling organizations, and enforce our laws,” Mayorkas said at the time. “Individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States will be subject to prompt expulsion or removal. Individuals who are provided a safe, orderly, and lawful path to the United States are less likely to risk their lives traversing thousands of miles in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our southern border and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry.”
Since Title 42 ended, the Biden administration has increased the number of migrants that can access legal entry programs for humanitarian parole and CBP One, a phone application allowing migrants to book appointments to come via ports of entry along the southern border. Roughly 188,000 migrants have booked appointments through the app through the end of July, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The Biden administration has also implemented asylum restrictions that turn back certain migrants seeking protection if they didn’t already do so in a country they traversed to get to the U.S. Two federal judges have struck down the policy, but the Biden administration is permitted to utilize it until a higher court decision.
Initially, the number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally dipped to roughly 99,000 in June. That all changed in the month of July, when Border Patrol recorded roughly 133,000 illegal migrant encounters in the region.
DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Jennie Taer is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by Chief Jason Owens.
