Amid Talk of Border Chaos, Crossings Have Sharply Declined

The soaring number of unlawful entries at the southern border was always going be a central part of the 2024 presidential campaign.

On the campaign trail, former President Donald J. Trump has been showcasing a chart showing a rising mountain of migrant encounters at the border under President Biden. At the Republican National Convention, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas got big cheers for his vow to continue busing migrants to liberal cities.

But amid the heightened rhetoric, the reality on the ground has recently changed.

There were 83,000 apprehensions of migrants last month, according to official data, down significantly from 117,000 in May. The June numbers represented the lowest monthly total since January 2021, and a significant drop from the record 250,000 recorded in December last year.

The decline has continued into July. The daily average of encounters at the border in the past week was under 1,900 as of Monday, according to a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal statistics.

At that pace, there could be about 60,000 crossings in July, similar to numbers seen at the end of the Trump administration. Here’s the latest on what’s happening at the border.

President Biden’s new policies reduced crossings. Mexico helped too.

Most migrants surrender to the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing unlawfully into the country and are then apprehended by agents. More than 2.4 million people were encountered by border authorities in fiscal 2023, a record.