Federal authorities encountered a new low of more than 150,000 migrants at the southern border in January while the Biden administration paroles thousands of others into the U.S., according to data U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released Friday.
CBP encountered 156,274 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in January, according to the agency. The new low coincides with a new series of policies the Biden administration began implementing for migrants to enter the country using parole authority.
The Biden administration recently began a program where migrants who would otherwise be expelled under Title 42, a Trump era-public health order used to quickly expel certain illegal migrants, can use the CBP One phone application to enter the country via a U.S. port or apply for parole in their home countries. The fate of Title 42 remains uncertain as Republican states continue to fight it in court. (RELATED: Biden Admin Hires Impeachment Attorneys To Defend Mayorkas)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorka listens to deputy patrol agent in charge of the U.S. Border Patrol Anthony Crane as he tours the section of the border wall in Hidalgo, Texas, U.S. May 17, 2022. Joel Martinez/Pool via REUTERS
The parole program, excluding CBP One, allows 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela, to enter the country legally each month.
Meanwhile, the new low also comes after months of record migrant encounters, including December, which was the highest month on record with more than 250,000 encounters.
“The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working, with the lowest level of Border Patrol encounters between Ports of Entry since February of 2021,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a Friday statement of the new data. “Those trends have continued into February, with average encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans plummeting.”
The Biden administration’s statements that the program is helping drive border numbers down, however, are misleading, former Deputy Department of Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“They’re using parole. Much like the Obama administration did DACA. It’s creating a loophole you can drive a truck through. What security comes from this? He can’t identify any security that comes from this. He can’t identify any reducing the flow of illegals coming to the country that he won’t admit illegals. Yeah, right. He’s facilitating it. The guy is an official government human trafficker,” Cuccinelli said.
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