In a Reversal, Fewer Migrants Are Arrested at the Border

Photo: loren elliott/Reuters

As shelters empty, experts credit Trump administration’s controversial ‘Remain in Mexico’ program and increased Mexican security

Arrests of people crossing the Southwestern border have plummeted 75% since May, marking one of the most dramatic drops in recent history and a sign that policy changes by the Trump administration and Mexico are reducing migration to the U.S.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that 33,510 people were arrested after illegally crossing the border in November, marking the sixth straight monthly decline since May, when 132,000 such apprehensions marked a 13-year high.

The majority of those apprehended last year were families and unaccompanied children from Central America, nearly all of whom surrendered to border officials seeking asylum in the U.S. An unexpected surge of such migrants in the spring of this year created a crisis as the federal government proved unable to process them efficiently in safe and healthy conditions.

Of those arrested in November, 9,000 were traveling as families, according to CBP.

Border arrests typically decline this time of year and rise again in the spring when temperatures warm. Even so, the May-November decline is the biggest in absolute numbers and second biggest by percentage of any six-month period this century. The last few months of the Obama administration and the first few of the Trump administration saw a 76% drop, starting from a smaller peak of 47,211.

“This is a direct result due to this president’s strategies to address the historic flood of Central Americans, families, illegally crossing the border,” acting CBP Comissioner Mark Morgan said at a press conference Monday. “The network of initiatives have worked and continues to work.”

In Tucson, Ariz., a migrant shelter has seen arrivals drop from more than 100 a day last year to fewer than 40 recently, according to its operator, Teresa Cavendish.

Read the rest from the WSJ HERE.

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