The Biden administration received welcome news in May as the number of immigrants arrested entering the United States illegally from Mexico dropped to the third-lowest level in 40 months.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data published Thursday showed that 117,906 immigrants were apprehended by border agents last month after they tried to enter the country between the ports of entry. The government data, which comes at a time of year when crossings normally spike, confirms the Washington Examiner’s exclusive reporting on June 6, which previewed the unreleased data.
The figure is down from more than 128,000 in April and nearly 250,000 in December 2023.
An additional 119,000 immigrants attempted to enter through a port of entry but were not allowed or were admitted through parole programs the Biden administration has put into place to keep immigrants from entering unlawfully.
The Biden administration’s ability to keep arrests down defies trends as more migrants have historically attempted to travel to the U.S. during the springtime and summer months and the number of arrests has risen every year over the past two decades.
Immigration experts and one congressman who spoke with the Washington Examiner this month pointed to different reasons for the shift: actions the state of Texas and the government of Mexico have each taken since the start of the year.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), who represents more than 40% of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, attributed the decline in crossings to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) beefing up of enforcement at his state’s border.
“President Biden made it clear from his first day in office that border security is on his back burner. He abandoned the communities I represent, and has repeatedly ignored our calls for help,” Gonzales said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Governor Abbott on the other hand has put Texans first, and tackled illegal immigration head-on. We’re seeing the positive results of our state’s efforts play out — now we need the federal government to follow suit, enforce against illegal crossings, and finish the job.”
Joshua Trevino of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the dip was “likely a combination of Texas border-security efforts and also AMLO-Biden election-year collusion.”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s incoming successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, was elected on June 2 and will take office in October.
Trevino alleged Lopez Obrador’s administration and the incoming Sheinbaum administration, both from the leftist Morena political party, may be helping reduce migration through Mexico to boost Biden’s chances in November when he is expected to take on presumptive GOP nominee former President Donald Trump.
“The Mexican regime understands very well that its interest lies in a Biden reelection, and they’ll do their part to make it happen,” Trevino said.
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Adam Isacson, defense oversight director for the nonprofit human rights group Washington Office on Latin America, suggested Mexico as being the more important of factors that have caused migration to stay at its current level since January after Biden administration officials visited with Lopez Obrador’s administration in Mexico.
“The change in Mexico seems to coincide with December: the 12/27 Blinken/Mayorkas visit to AMLO in CdMx, and the closure of a few ports of entry so that CBPO’s could help BP with processing, which dealt a big economic blow to Mexico that they don’t want to suffer again,” Isacson said in a text message on Thursday.