Arrests for illegally crossing the US border from Mexico rose by a whopping 33% from June to July, according to government figures released Friday. This represents a reversed course after a plunge that followed the introduction of revised asylum restrictions in May.
President Joe Biden’s administration insists that its approach of expanding legal routes while imposing more punitive measures on illegal entry has been sufficient; it noted that illegal crossings were still down 27% from July 2022 and were a far cry from the days that preceded the new immigration rules. Still, the President has consistently received criticism for the situation at the border, especially from Republicans.
The increase from June to July was driven by a larger presence of families traveling with children. Traffic shifted to some of the hottest parts of Arizona, which officials blamed on false advertising by smugglers that it was easier to cross there and make it in. The Tucson area logged 39,215 arrests in July to become the hotspot among nine geographic sectors along the border, up 60% from June and more than double from July of last year.
The Border Patrol stopped migrants 132,652 times in July along the entire southern border, up from a mere 99,545 times in June but down from 181,834 times in July 2022. Crossings were widely expected to increase after Title 42 ended May 11 but they fell in June to the second-lowest of Biden’s presidency after newer, tougher asylum rules came into place.
