Illegal entry at US-Mexico border dropped by 29 percent in June

Arrests for illegally crossing the US-Mexico border dropped by 29 percent in June over the previous month, the lowest count of Joe Biden's presidency, according to figures announced Tuesday by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The agency credited the decrease to the presidential proclamation announced on June 4 by Biden to temporarily suspend asylum eligibility for those who illegally enter across the border.

As a result, the border encounters in June dropped to about 83,500 incidents from 117,900 in May. CBP said the June border encounter number is the lowest since January 2021 as well as lower than the number of encounters in June 2019, the last comparable year prior to the pandemic

The drop came as Biden has been repeatedly criticized for the surge of border crossings in recent years and the public sentiment about immigration is at its lowest in two decades. A June Gallup poll showed 55 percent of Americans want to see a decreased level of immigration, the highest since 2001. Former president Donald Trump has made a major issue in his White House bid.

The seven-day average also dropped more than 50 percent to below 1,900 encounters per day from the date of Biden's announcement to the end of the month.

The CBP also doubled the rate at which noncitizens were removed from US Border Patrol custody in June. Under the new policy, the Homeland Security Department has removed or returned more than 70,000 individuals to more than 170 countries since June 5. More than 150 international repatriation flights were used as part of the efforts.

The total removals and returns over the past fiscal year exceeded removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010, said CBP. A majority of US-Mexico border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return or expulsion.

"Recent border security measures have made a meaningful impact on our ability to impose consequences for those crossing unlawfully," said Troy Miller, acting CPB protection commissioner

Asylum processing at ports of entry has continued under Biden's proclamation. US border officials have continued to process and admit roughly 1,500 migrants each day at the legal entry points.

San Diego was the busiest of the Border Patrol's nine sectors bordering Mexico by number of arrests, followed by Tucson, Arizona.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups sued the Biden administration last month over his June 4 order, saying it differs little from a similar move during the Trump administration that was blocked by the courts, violates US asylum law and increases the chances of American officials sending migrants back to places where they can be harmed.