McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The number of migrants encountered on the Southwest border in July dropped by one-third from June, and was the lowest in nearly four years, according to data released Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
CBP is crediting an executive order issued in early June by President Joe Biden, as well as a final order implemented later, for the significant drop in undocumented migrants trying to cross from Mexico into the United States.,
The agency reported 56,408 migrant encounters between legal U.S. ports of entry in July — that’s down 32% from June 2024. This is the lowest monthly total reported on the Southwest border since September 2020, the agency reports.
The total number of people who arrived at the border, however, including those presenting without documents at U.S. ports of entry, was 61,325, which is a 30% decrease from June, CBP says.
“In July, our border security measures enhanced our ability to deliver consequences for illegal entry – leading to the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in more than three years,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement.
“The data published today by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that after President Biden announced new, decisive executive actions to secure the border on June 4, encounters between ports of entry have dropped significantly. Encounters in July 2024 were the lowest since September 2020 and lower than at this point in 2019,” White House Spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said.
The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border decreased by 15%; family units decreased by 24%; and the number of single adults encountered dropped by 27% in July from June, the agency reports.
July encounter numbers were down two-thirds from July 2023, when Border Patrol agents and CBP officers reported 181,834 migrant encounters on the Southwest land border.
“We are working closely with international partners to go after transnational criminal organizations that traffic in chaos and prioritize profit over human lives,” Miller said.
Under the presidential proclamation issued June 4, asylum-seekers must schedule asylum appointments at U.S. ports of entry via the CBP One app, and cannot be encountered irregularly between ports along the border.
CBP reports 38,000 individuals were processed with asylum appointments in July — that’s an average of 1,225 per day, which is below the 1,450 appointments the agency says it can accept.
There are some exceptions to the new asylum rules — for unaccompanied children and very vulnerable individuals — but for the most part those presenting outside of these new rules are being deported and repatriated.
“This administration is orchestrating a massive shell game, encouraging otherwise-inadmissible aliens to cross at ports of entry instead of between them — thereby creating a façade of improved optics for the administration, but in reality imposing a growing burden on our communities,” U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee who chairs the Homeland Security Committee said in a statement. Green says that “total encounters at our ports — land, sea, and air — are up exponentially this fiscal year compared to the Biden-Harris administration’s first year in office, and are on track to surpass last year’s total. Since January 2023, more than 1.28 million inadmissible aliens have been granted entry to our country at official ports of entry through just the CBP One and CHNV mass-parole programs.”
CBP reports that 92,000 people have been removed or sent back to more than 130 countries on over 300 repatriation flights since June 5, when the order took effect.
The agency also reports that operations targeting the inflow of fentanyl from Mexico in the El Paso and San Diego regions — called Operation Plaza Spike and Operation Appollo X, respectively — are leading to more seizure of fentanyl by agents and officers.
To date in Fiscal Year 20244, CBP has seized over 17,900 pounds of fentanyl, the agency reported Friday.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].