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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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President Joe Biden will leave office with far lower crossing numbers at the United States' border with Mexico than expected, with no pre-inauguration surge of immigrants reported.
In its December update released Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said crossings were down 81 percent compared to December 2023's height.
"In the last six months of 2024, Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border have decreased more than 70% from the same period in 2023," Pete Flores, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner, said in a statement.
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Why It Matters
Biden's term in the White House was plagued by a huge surge in illegal crossings at the southwest border, leading to accusations from Republicans that his border policies had failed. President-elect Donald Trump focused on immigration during his election campaign, promising a return to tougher controls once he retook the White House.
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What To Know
The CBP monthly update came just a day after President Biden claimed that crossings fell once he took office in January 2021. While numbers were low at the time, this was due to COVID-19 pandemic-era policies introduced by Trump, and the numbers soon rose as the health emergency eased.
With the threat of a closed border and mass deportations under the next Trump administration, some had feared that there could be a sudden surge in attempts to cross from Mexico into the U.S., following reports of migrant caravans.
Mexico has played a big part in slowing and even stopping large groups reaching the border, however, using buses to move groups back towards the south.
CBP calls crossings at the border "encounters" and it recorded 47,330 between official ports of entry in December 2024, far lower than the 301,981 seen at the end of the previous year. The agency put this down to action taken by the president in June when he issued an executive order effectively banning asylum claims.
Between May and December 2024, CBP recorded a 60 percent fall in encounters between ports of entry, bringing levels to their lowest since August 2020 and lower than 2019's monthly average.
With the looming Trump mass deportation program, CBP also touted the Department of Homeland Security's recent record on migrant removals, with over 271,000 sent home since June. Over fiscal year 2024, that number was over 700,000.
What People Are Saying
**Flores, in the CBP's press release: "**We will stay vigilant as we enhance border security, interdict dangerous drugs, ensure economic security and vitality, protect our nation's agricultural system, and uphold our other critical missions."
Adam Isacson, who writes about immigration at The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), on X: "For the 2nd month ever, more migrants came to official border crossings than were apprehended by Border Patrol between them."
What's Next
Trump is expected to start enacting immigration policy changes as soon as Monday, January 20, which will likely impact crossing numbers further. One such policy is Remain in Mexico, which Senators are due to discuss at a hearing on Thursday.
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