Mexico City.- The number of migrant detainees on the southern border of the United States in July of this year was its lowest monthly figure since February 2021.
According to operational statistics from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 104,116 “encounters” (arrests) of migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico were reported last month, 45 percent fewer than in July 2023.
The top countries of origin for migrants apprehended in July of this year were Mexico, with 31 percent; Venezuela, with 12.4; and Cuba, with 10.1. “In July, our border security measures enhanced our ability to impose consequences for illegal entry, leading to the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in more than three years,” said Troy A. Miller, acting commissioner of CBP, when presenting the statistics last Friday.
“We are working closely with international partners to pursue transnational criminal organizations that traffic in chaos and prioritize profits over human lives.”
Of the migrant apprehensions recorded last July, just over half, 54 percent, were carried out by the Border Patrol and took place in areas located between the ports of entry to the U.S. from Mexico. The remaining 46 percent were carried out by the CBP Office of Field Operations and correspond to migrants who presented themselves at the ports of entry without documents to legally enter the U.S. “U.S. Border Patrol encounters in July were 32 percent lower than in June 2024 and were the lowest monthly total along the southwest border since September 2020, CBP said in a statement. “July’s total numbers across ports of entry are also lower than July 2019.” The San Diego Border Patrol Sector and the CBP field office at that port of entry accounted for 29.2 percent of apprehensions, the Laredo Sector 20.7 percent, and the El Paso Sector and Field Office 18.5 percent. CBP recalled that on June 4, President Joe Biden announced a proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of noncitizens across the U.S. southern border, and that the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General jointly issued an interim rule restricting asylum eligibility for those entering irregularly across the southern border. “These actions “These executive actions have led to a significant increase in the number of migrants expelled and returned to their countries of origin and a decrease in the number of people released pending their removal proceedings,” he said.
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