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US Border Apprehensions Decline Amid Summer Heat, Mexico Deal

Victoria Macchi

   The number of people apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border declined in
   June, breaking a six-month streak of dramatic increases and prompting
   the Trump administration to quickly -- though cautiously -- claim an
   early victory in its negotiations for stricter border enforcement in
   Mexico.

   The number of unauthorized border crossers detained by the U.S. Border
   Patrol in June fell to 94,897, a 28% decline from May, according to
   [1]Wednesday's data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

   Apprehensions declined as summer temperatures climbed and Mexico ramped
   up its own border enforcement following an agreement with the U.S. to
   avoid a tariff President Donald Trump threatened to levy.

   "What we see in June is that our strategy is working. The president's
   engagement with Mexico, the deal to enforce immigration security on
   their southern border ... that's clearly having an impact on the flow,"
   a[2]cting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told CNN on
   Tuesday, hours after his agency released preliminary estimates for
   June.

   Reasons behind fluctuations

   Migrants from Central America's Northern Triangle countries -- El
   Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras -- make up the majority of
   apprehensions. However, migration numbers fluctuate for various
   reasons, including changes in season, political climate, policy and
   weather.

   In part, "we generally do have a small decline in June due to the high
   summer temperatures," a senior CBP official told reporters,
   acknowledging that there may be more than one factor causing last
   month's decrease in apprehensions.

   The official added that the agency is "very optimistic ... as Mexico
   continues to deploy resources to their southern border and continues to
   beef up their border security."

   The number of apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border usually reaches a
   peak in March, before declining steadily over the summer months. But
   this year, that reversal did not happen. Instead, that number spiked in
   May to more than 132,000.

   "The logistics of this flow is different than the U.S. has ever seen.
   And the size is different than Mexico has ever seen," Andrew Selee,
   president of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, told VOA.

   The drop in apprehensions from May to June shows "clearly there's an
   effect of Mexico's enforcement policies," Selee said. "Is the Mexico
   enforcement policy coherent? No. They threw together an enforcement
   response to stave off the threat from the Trump administration. It's
   had a dissuasive effect -- but only so far."

   In the wake of the tariff threat, Mexico deployed members of its newly
   formed National Guard -- more like a national police force than a
   military branch -- to its northern and southern borders to curb the
   passage of migrants.

   The senior CBP official who spoke to reporters Wednesday said Mexican
   forces have been able to reduce the number of travelers in large groups
   attempting to cross into the U.S. In one case, the official said,
   "instead of having 200 [unauthorized border crossers] to deal with, we
   ended up having approximately 60 apprehensions."

   Migrant children

   Families and unaccompanied children still make up the majority of
   unauthorized border crossers, a senior CBP official told reporters
   during a media call Wednesday.

References

   1. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/
   2. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/11/kevin-mcaleenan-homeland-security-immigration-border-cpt-vpx.cnn

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