The peak of illegal border entry does not occur immediately after the end of Title 42

There hasn’t been an expected increase in illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border since the end of Title 42’s pandemic-era immigration control policy earlier this week, according to government data obtained by CBS News. will be implemented immediately after the policy change.

Friday is the first day since March 2020 that the United States can no longer reference Topic 42 Border Patrol agents detained about 6,300 migrants for deportation, a sharp drop from the record number of illegal arrests announced a few days ago, a senior U.S. official told CBS News on condition of anonymity to provide undisclosed numbers.

Earlier in the week, the Border Patrol made an arrest ahead of Title 42, which ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday. reached historical heights. For three days this week, the Border Patrol recorded more than 10,000 daily apprehensions of migrants.

Gloria Chavez, the top Border Patrol agent in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, told CBS News that Saturday was a “quiet day.” He noted that his sector had arrested 1,900 migrants on Friday, and recently recorded an average of 2,700 migrant arrivals per day.

Still, Chavez noted that there were about 5,000 migrants in detention centers in the Rio Grande Valley on Saturday, up from 4,600.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Chavez said. “We are still working hard to provide these officers with the resources they need.”

Title 42, a public health authority first invoked by the Trump administration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has allowed US border officials to deport 2.7 million migrants from their home countries or Mexico without hearing their asylum applications. It ended with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The unexpected drop in illegal crossings following the end of Title 42 may be a sign that the recent migration peak has peaked before the end of the policy. However, 6,300 daily apprehensions are still a historic high, and another spike in migrant crossings is still likely in the future.

In a federal court filing Friday, Border Patrol Deputy Chief Matthew Hudak said his agency is still preparing to increase daily migrant arrivals from 12,000 to 14,000. The agency also faces major operational challenges, with more than 20,000 migrants under its care and several facilities overcapacity.

After a federal judge’s trial began in Florida earlier in the week, concerns about the even higher number of migrants in Border Patrol custody and overcrowding have grown. blocked the strategy this allowed the agency to quickly release some low-risk migrants to reduce the number of people in overcrowded facilities.

The Biden administration urged U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell to overturn his decision, saying it would lead to “dangerous overcrowding” and could force the Border Patrol to stop detaining some migrants to ease those conditions. But in Saturday’s order, Weatherell refused to suspend his decision, calling the government’s request “borderline sketchy.”

The president recently admitted that the “chaos” at the southwest border “for several years” is largely a problem on the part of the accused, as they have effectively encouraged “irregular migration” that has continued since early 2021. “Adopt and implement an immigration policy that prioritizes ‘alternatives to detention,'” Wetherell wrote in his order.

The Biden administration hopes to slow down the historically high levels of immigration seen over the past two years, including more deportations and asylum restrictions, with a strategy that combines increased legal migration channels.

A key part of the strategy Friday is the rule Immigrants who enter the United States without authorization will be disenfranchised unless they sought asylum in a third country en route to American soil. Those found guilty could face deportation to Mexico or their country of origin and be barred from re-entering the United States for five years.

At the same time, the administration of migrants to the United States legally, including mobile application For asylum seekers in Mexico and program for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants with American sponsors.

However, this strategy now faces legal challenges on many fronts. States governed by republics please ask A Texas federal judge has blocked a sponsorship program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, and migrant advocates recently asked a California federal judge to declare the new asylum restriction illegal.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, Blas Nunez-Neto, the Department of Homeland Security’s senior immigration and border policy official, said the administration was “concerned about the impact of the litigation on our ability to execute this plan.”

“Frankly, the lawsuits we’re facing on both sides clearly show how broken our immigration system is,” Nunes-Neto said, noting that the only “permanent solution” to immigration at the US southern border may be the only one. From Congress.

— Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.