By Steve Neavling
Border Patrol has seen a 50% decline in encounters at the southern border following the expiration of the pandemic-era limits on asylum known as Title 42, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday.
“Over the past two days, the United States Border Patrol has experienced a 50% drop in the number of encounters versus what we were experiencing earlier in the week before Title 42 ended at midnight on Thursday,” Mayorkas said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
“It is still early. We are in day three. But we have been planning for this transition for months and months.”
Mayorkas said agents had about 6,300 encounters with migrants on Friday and an additional 4,200 on Saturday, compared to more than 10,000 shortly before Title 42 expired.
The expiration of Title 42 prompted concerns among lawmakers and other officials about a heavy influx of migrants. But so far, officials have not witnessed a significant change in migrant levels.
To prepare for the surge, the Biden administration sent 24,000 border agents to the border, along with military troops and asylum officers.
