Border encounters drop more than 40 percent after Biden asylum order

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that border encounters with migrants have decreased by 40 percent, three weeks after President Biden’s order suspended asylum processing.

The Border Patrol’s seven-day average of encounters has dropped to fewer than 2,400 encounters per day, which is 40 percent fewer than before the asylum restrictions were announced on June 4 and the lowest level of encounters since June 17. January 2021, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The decrease is a political boost for Biden, who has faced relentless attacks from the Republican Party over the chaos at the US southern border, and the new data was announced just a day before the first presidential debate against former President Trump.

The White House criticized Republicans on Wednesday for failing to act on immigration to bring about the 40 percent drop.

“Meanwhile, Republican officials have twice blocked the toughest bipartisan border security agreement in modern American history, supporting fentanyl traffickers, human smugglers and – in their own words – Donald Trump, over the Border Patrol Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Border mayors from both parties who endorsed the bipartisan agreement,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

He added: “President Biden will continue to lead, including taking action to secure our border and calling on congressional Republicans to do their work and pass the bipartisan border security bill.”

DHS also announced Wednesday that it has removed and returned more than 24,000 individuals to more than 20 countries, including through the operation of more than 100 international repatriation flights. The department also doubled the percentage of noncitizens removed or returned directly from Border Patrol custody and decreased the number of people released pending removal proceedings by more than 65 percent, according to the statement.

Last week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that preliminary data showed a 25 percent decrease in migrant encounters.

Under Biden’s asylum order, most migrants encountered between ports of entry are not evaluated for asylum claims and could be subject to rapid expulsion to Mexico, expedited deportation proceedings to their home country and to criminal and administrative consequences.

Official CBP data from before the asylum crackdown shows that encounters have stagnated since January at levels similar to or slightly below the late winter and spring averages during the Biden administration.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story