Fewer crossings but number of migrants in custody remains high
Immigrants seeking asylum turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents after wading across the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas on December 18, 2022 from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported Friday that in the week since Washington dropped pandemic-era restrictions on seeking asylum at the southern border, Border Patrol averaged 4,000 encounters a day with people crossing between ports of entry, a figure down from more than the 10,000 daily average immediately before.
Many predicted a surge of migrants when Title 42 ended, but the number of border encounters has been on the decline.
While the number of encounters may be down, Customs and Border Patrol said Tuesday that the number of people in detention was still exceeding the agency’s capacity. Roughly 19,000 people are currently in CBP custody, compared to a normal number of around 10,000.
Sources tell NewsNation that these migrants are flying directly into Mexico City, where they end up in the hands of smuggling organizations who direct them into certain areas and control where they are crossing. If they discover holes in border security, cartels will continue to direct migrants to cross through those openings.
Mexico recently began flying migrants south, away from the U.S. border, and busing new arrivals away from its boundary with Guatemala to relieve pressure on its own border cities.
NewsNation writer Steph Whiteside and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
