The number of illegal immigrants entering the US dropped by 14 per cent in January to 153,941 – with half of those crossers expelled by Biden using a law enacted by Donald Trump.
U.S. Border Patrol officers and the Office of Field Operations registered 153,941 interdictions in January after 178,840 were reported in December 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data that was presented in a Texas federal court this week.
At least 78,486 people were expelled to Mexico under the Title 42 immigration order, a Trump-era policy that the former Republican president enforced in March 2020.
The measure allows CBP to expel migrants under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health order that deemed them a health risk under COVID-19.
Border data presented in a federal court in Texas this week showed a 14% drop in encounters with undocumented migrants at the southwestern border for the month of January compared with December 2021
While President Joe Biden continued the implementation of former U.S. President Donald Trump controversial Title 42 order that allows migrants to be expelled to Mexico on the grounds that they pose a health threat to the U.S., the Democratic leader elected not to return unaccompanied children across the border
Biden’s continued embrace of the policy has infuriated progressives, who say it is cruel and inhumane.
They are further angered that the Democrat president has chosen to continue with a policy that proved hugely popular among Trump supporters and middle America, but which was condemned as racist by the hard-left.
But with tanking approval ratings and soaring inflation that shows no sign of abating, the president is keenly aware that he cannot be seen to be soft on immigration ahead of the November midterms, which are currently expected to yield substantial gains for the GOP.
Under Trump, nearly 400,000 migrants were denied asylum and refuge at the border and returned to Mexico. The Biden administration has expelled over 1.2 million.
This chart shows border crossings each month over the last few years. The newly-released January 2022 figures have yet to be added to the chart and line graph
Although the Biden administration extended its implantation after Trump’s four-year term came to an end, it did not enforce the controversial policy’s practice on unaccompanied children after CBP had expelled close to 16,000 minors.
In September 2021, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Biden administration to temporarily halt its implementation of Title 42. However, the immigration measure was put back into place after Missouri and Texas sued the Biden administration, forcing asylum seekers to await their immigration court hearings while they stay in Mexico.
The border incidents with migrants who entered the United States without legal documents still eclipsed the totals for January 2021 when 78,414 encounters were reported. Joe Biden replaced Trump as president on January 20 2021 and immigration subsequently soared, as people traveled to the US border believing they’d have a greater chance of being allowed to cross by a liberal president.
The data, which has not been released as part of CBP’s monthly southwestern border report, shows that despite the significant drop, 672,301 encounters have been registered through the first four months on fiscal year 2022.
Migrants scale the shore of the Rio Grande after crossing over from Mexico to the United States in January. CBP data that was provided to a Texas federal court this week noted a 14% drop in encounters with migrants who were stopped along the southwestern border for illegally entering the U.S. throughout January
It’s on pace to surpass the interdiction totals for fiscal year 2021 when 1,734,686 were reported. There were 458,088 and 977,509 encounters documented in fiscal years 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Migrants mostly from Venezuela who are seeking asylum from the United States stand near the border fence while waiting to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico to Yuma, Arizona, on January 23
A family of Haitian migrants crosses the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on January 19. A group of lawmakers pressed the Biden administration on Wednesday to eliminate Title 42, a controversial Trump era-policy that permits border agents to expel migrants to Mexico under a CDC public health order that deems them a risk to the U.S. population because of the COVID-19 pandemic
Democratic New Jersey Senator Corey Booker was part of 100 Congress members who appealed to Biden on Wednesday and called for a reversal of the order which they argue was backed by Trump ‘to disproportionately harm Black migrants’ following the September 2021 massive expulsion of Haitian migrants who were turned away from the Mexico-Texas border and sent back to Haiti while others voluntarily returned to Mexico.
‘Our country has a long history of inhumane treatment of Black migrants, which is particularly evident in the historic mistreatment of Haitians,’ the lawmakers wrote. ‘It is time to undo the United States’ draconian immigration policies, particularly policies introduced under the Trump Administration, such as the use of Title 42, that circumvent our humanitarian obligations.’
A group of migrants are encountered by Border Patrol agents after they crossed over from Mexico in January
At least 30 migrants were stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Sector in late January
U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio Sector officers found three unaccompanied children from Honduras near the Rio Grande on January 24
CBP data for January also showed that at least 75,455 encounters were reported under Title 8.
Under the order, migrants are referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which determines whether they are subjected to deportation or are permitted to remain in the United States and continue their immigration proceedings.
