Border App Credited for Migrant Numbers Dip in June

The hot summer months in the southeast have seen a precipitous drop in migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border from May to June, and Customs and Border Protection officials are crediting the CBP One application.

The app is designed to queue asylum seekers for claims before entering the U.S., and it was brought forward after years of CBP development and relaunched by the Biden administration in mid-May after the expiration of Title 42. The Title 42 expulsions put in effect by the Trump administration helped border agents send illegal border crossers back to Mexico.

Now, those seeking asylum in central or northern Mexico can apply for asylum on the app before they reach the U.S. border.

There were 100,000 asylum-seekers reported in June after 204,561 encountered in May, a CBP official told USA Today.

The Biden administration is allowing 43,500 migrants a month to enter the U.S. via appointments made on the app. They will report to a port of entry and be given a “credible fear” interview and a court date to make their case for asylum.

In the past, migrants could reach the U.S. then apply for asylum, but now they are required to use the app.

“CBP One remains a key component of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] efforts to incentivize migrants to use lawful processes and disincentivize attempts at irregular or unlawful entry to the United States,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller told USA Today in a statement. “The app reduces the potential for smugglers or others to exploit migrants as it provides a direct system to request appointments.”

The dip in migrant detentions cannot be attributed entirely to the app policy, as there is the Arizona desert and southwest Texas heat in the summer months that make traveling across the border dangerous, if not deadly for migrants entering at the Mexican border.

Also, Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has been installing razor wire barriers along the banks of the Rio Grande river to bolster Trump’s border walls.

The political battle lines of the southern border will remain a hot-button campaign issue heading into 2024.

Abbott has taken action, claiming the Biden administration has been derelict in its duty to secure the southern border, and now President Joe Biden has data talking points to suggest his policies have caused the dip from May to June after he ended Trump-era Title 42 expulsions.

The razor wire may be having an effect at curbing the daily migrant arrivals at the nonprofit Mission: Border Hope. Arrivals slig from 1,200 a day last year to 100 per day now, according to Executive Director Valeria Wheeler, according to USA Today.