President Joe Biden’s recent efforts to stem illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border have been a success thus far, according to the Cabinet official in charge of the initiative.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told hundreds of mayors gathered in Washington for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday that the Biden administration’s requirement that immigrants from top-sending countries seek appointments with border officials rather than entering illegally was bearing results.
“Two weeks ago, we announced new lawful pathways for noncitizens seeking relief in the United States, accompanied by a consequence regime for those who do not avail themselves of those processes,” Mayorkas said during a speech Thursday. “Since then, encounters from the targeted countries dropped significantly.”
Since Biden took office two years ago, 5 million noncitizens have been encountered at the nation’s borders attempting to enter the country without authorization, most of whom came over the land border without permission, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
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More than 1.5 million noncitizens were released from federal custody and allowed to remain and live in the United States to await court hearings not for years down the road.
The launch of the CBP One app this week focused on deterring citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, who have been the drivers in the migration surge across the Western Hemisphere through the pandemic. Citizens of those four countries are not able to be flown back by the U.S. government because the receiving governments will not accept back their citizens.
But the victory could be short-lived given the troubles the Biden immigration initiative has faced in its rollout, and it could further complicate things for Mayorkas, who is the target of House Republicans’ ire after winning a majority last November.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) introduced three articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this month, beginning what the GOP has vowed to be a two-year session of oversight and investigations into the Biden administration’s handling of the border.
Immigrants and Mexican government officials told Reuters that the CBP One app that must be used to sign up for appointments with U.S. officials was overwhelmed.
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The inability to get an appointment in some regions or only being able to schedule an appointment at a location that is hundreds of miles away could prompt immigrants to go about entering the U.S. illegally.
Biden said in early January that any immigrant who entered illegally rather than going through the app would be removed from the country and barred from future admission via legal channels.
