At the border, migrants ‘wait and see’ to try to cross, as encounters dip 40%

Border patrol agents pick up migrants waiting to be processed in Dulzara, California on June 25, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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Jacumba Valley, Calif.– Encounters of migrants crossing the Southern border without authorization went down 40% in the first three weeks since new policies heavily restricting asylum petitions went into effect.

The Biden administration says itsJune 4 executive actions are succeeding at curtailing undocumented migration.

“The president’s actions are working because of their tough response to illegal crossings,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas at a press conference in Tucson, Arizona on Wednesday.“We are removing more noncitizens without a legal basis to stay here.”

The number of people arrested while attempting to cross the border have been on the decline for five months. Mexico has been scaling up enforcement, and stopping migrants who are trekking north toward the U.S.

Mayorkas also said the administration has doubled the number of expedited removals in the last three weeks. It has flown more than 100 international repatriation flights to 20 countries.

The arrests in the last three weeks haven’t been this low since January 2021, DHS said.

In announcing the asylum restrictions on June 4, President Biden said these measures were needed to bring “order to the border”.

So far on the California border, there’s been a noticeable shift. Up until last month, the San Diego sector had been the place with most undocumented migrant crossings.

A migrant woman and her nine-year-old hold each other as they wait for border patrol agents in Dulzara, California. The family of three migrated from Ecuador and is hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. June 25, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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A sandal can be seen through the busses of the desert in Dulzura, California, on June 24, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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A couple of migrants wait to be processed by border patrol agents in Dulzara, California on June 25, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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NPR has for months been reporting on areas where migrants usually camp out in the Jacumba Valley, a remote area 80 miles east from San Diego.

Just weeks ago, there were hundreds of migrants crossing into the U.S. and waiting to be picked up by the Border Patrol to petition for asylum.

But in the last couple of weeks, these locations where makeshift tents flap in the wind, look mostly empty.

But some still cross the border.

In the middle of the desert, on the California side of the border, NPR stumbled upon one family. Three small children and their parents were being aided by volunteers who gave them water.

The family said they had walked for eight hours through the desert.

One of the children, a 7 year old, was seriously dehydrated and he seemed to be passing out, until humanitarian groups provided him first aid.

Even if the desert journey was challenging –they evaded snakes and mountain lions– staying in their native Mexico was not an option.

The family owns an auto repair shop in the southern state of Michoacan but were being extorted and their lives were threatened.

The mother, Jazmin Mora, says the family first fled to Tijuana, hoping to make it to the United States, where they have family. But after just one month in the Mexican border city, they encountered violence there too, so they decided to try to cross.

A mattress at the southern border in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on June 24, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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Jazmin Mora puts a cold patch on her forehead to cool down as she and her family wait for border patrol agents in Jacumba Hot Springs, California on June 24, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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A border patrol agent approaches the informal migrant camp in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, as a child washes her hands on June 24, 2024. Zaydee Sanchez for NPR hide caption

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“We moved around to several other places, but the reality is all Mexico is unsafe for everybody,” said Mora.

This family’s story embodies what immigration analysts have told NPR about the newer border measures: deterrence policies alone do not work to curtail undocumented immigration in the long run.

Although the Biden administration touts these policies as a success, migrants continue to arrive at the border, although they stay on the Mexican side to ‘wait and see’ when to cross.

Historically, they turn Mexican border towns into a sort of pressure cooker: where people fleeing violence and poverty get stuck there for months.

The announcement of lower numbers of border encounters and higher numbers of removals comes at the heels of the first presidential debate on Thursday, in which immigration will be front and center.

Far away from the politics of Washington D.C., neither migrants nor the locals had much to say about the border policies. They told NPR, they see it as politics as usual –no real, lasting solutions.