Anticipated surge on US-Mexico border fails to materialise but situation still ‘fluid’

The anticipated surge of people seeking to cross into the United States following the ending of Covid-19 measures which allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers has failed to materialise.

US officials said on Monday that the number of encounters with those seeking to enter the country across the southern border had fallen by half compared with last week. They were, however, cautious about future developments.

Blas Nuñez-Neto, an assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters at a press conference that it was “still too early” to say if the pattern would continue.

“We are mindful that smugglers will continue to look for ways to take advantage of the change in border policies,” he said.

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US politicians and officials had been concerned that there would be a surge of people seeking to cross the border after a regulation – known as Title 42 – dating back to the Trump presidency, was removed. This had allowed for the those crossing to be quickly sent back to Mexico. The measure was officially aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 but critics argued that it also stopped people exercising their right to claim asylum.

On Sunday, president Joe Biden said the number of people crossing the southern border had gone down. “My hope is they’ll continue to go down but we have more – a lot more – work to do. And, we need some more help from the Congress as well in terms of funding and legislative changes.”

Republican politicians had strongly criticised the Biden administration over its policy on migration and claimed that it had lost control over the US southern border. Some Republicans have urged that Mr Biden’s homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, should be impeached.

Mr Nuñez-Neto said on Monday: “It is important to note that while Title 42 has ended, the conditions that are causing hemispheric migration at unprecedented levels have not changed.”

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He said the number of migrants encountered crossing the US-Mexico border dropped to an average of 5,000 per day following the ending of Title 42 measures on May 11th, down from more than 10,000 on some days last week.

He said, however, the situation was “very fluid”.

“This is a continuously evolving situation that we are monitoring in real time,” he said. “We are processing people safely, orderly and humanely, and quickly delivering consequences to those that do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States,” he said.

He said that several thousand migrants had been deported since last Friday.

Mr Nunez-Neto said migrants crossing illegally “now face tougher consequences at the border, including a minimum five-year bar on re-entry and the potential to be criminally prosecuted if they try again”.

He said the fall in the numbers encountered by US authorities after crossing from Mexico came as the Biden administration had implemented a higher standard for asylum at the border and had opened up new legal pathways for migrants abroad and as countries further south stepped up border security.