Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border in November fell to their lowest level of President Biden’s administration.
Illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have slowed significantly as President Biden prepares to leave office and as President-elect Donald J. Trump, who promised to crack down on immigration, is days away from retaking power.
More than 46,000 people crossed the border illegally in November, the lowest number during the Biden administration. Though overall crossings ticked up slightly in December, the daily averages were the lowest since summer 2020, according to a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who spoke on the condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak publicly.
January is on track to have even fewer monthly crossings, the official said, adding that government officials were also ramping up deportations after an executive order further restricted asylum this summer.
“The border is quieter than it has been in years,” said Adam Isacson, a border security expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy organization. “The number of people entering Border Patrol custody is as low as the first months of the pandemic. And for the first time ever, more people are making appointments at official crossings — an orderly process — than are being captured in between.”
He suggested that the first half of the year, when Mr. Trump takes office, could have “historically low” border crossings, noting that Border Patrol apprehensions — instances in which people are taken into custody along the border — were the lowest in decades during the first months of the previous Trump administration.
“Migrants will delay their plans, if they can, to see what happens after an anti-immigration president takes power,” he said.