U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced a new low for border level crossings during the month of November ahead of President Biden’s exit from the White House.
Statistics released by the agency show a 4.5 percent drop in field operations and encounters at the southwest border.
Single adults consistently ranked the highest for crossings over the past two month, totaling 64,004 encounters with Border Patrol during the time frame. Individuals in a family unit trailed with 27,488 encounters, followed by single minors at 11,646.
The decrease in encounters comes months after a July asylum order that limited border crossings.
The executive order paused noncitizens’ entry at the southern border when seven-day averages of daily border crossings exceeded 2,500 between ports of entry. Once issued, the legislation came into effect immediately.
“Frankly, I would’ve preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that’s the only way to get the kind of system we have now that’s broken fixed,” Biden said in his White House announcement of the measure after a failed border security push in Congress.
Weeks later, crossings were down by 40 percent.
Since the November election, Republicans have labeled border security a top issue for President-elect Trump’s incoming administration.
The former president has promised to carry out the largest deportation effort in the country’s history following his Jan. 20 inauguration.
