Border arrests decline in September in latest monthly indicator before US election

SAN DIEGO — Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico fell 7% in September to their lowest level in more than four years, authorities said Tuesday. It’s likely the latest monthly indicator in a presidential campaign in which Republican candidate Donald Trump has made immigration a signature issue.

The Border Patrol made 53,858 arrests, down from 58,009 in August and the lowest figure since August 2020, when arrests totaled 47,283, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Mexicans made up almost half of the arrests, becoming a larger part of the mix. In December, when arrests reached a record high of 250,000, Mexicans made up fewer than one in four. Arrests of other major nationalities seen at the border, including Guatemalans, Hondurans, Colombians and Ecuadorians, have dropped this year.

San Diego was again the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in September, followed by El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona.

For the government’s fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the Border Patrol made 1.53 million arrests after surpassing 2 million for the first time in each of the previous two years.

The White House presented the figures as proof that tough asylum restrictions introduced in June were having the desired effect, and blamed congressional Republicans for opposing a border security bill. which failed in February. Vice President Kamala Harris used this line of attack against Trump to try to blunt criticism that the Biden administration has been weak on immigration enforcement.

“The Biden Harris administration has taken effective action, and Republican officials continue to do nothing,” said White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a frequent critic of the administration and advocate of immigration restrictions, has attributed recent declines to better enforcement by Mexican authorities within their own borders, saying that The White House “essentially outsourced U.S. border security to Mexico ahead of the 2024 election – policies that can be reversed at any time depending on the Mexican government’s choice.”

Arrests fell sharply after Mexico tightened enforcement measures in December, and saw a steeper drop after U.S. asylum restrictions took effect in June. U.S. officials have not hesitated to emphasize Mexico’s role.

Mexican authorities are encountering more migrants this year while expulsions remain relatively low, creating a bottleneck. Panamanian authorities reported an increase in the number of migrants crossing the famous Darien Gap in September, although the numbers are still much lower than last year.

Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said last week that the administration was working with Mexico and other countries to jointly combat migration.

“We remain concerned about potential bottlenecks, we continue to review them, we continue to resolve them with our partners,” Miller said at a news conference in San Diego.

The Biden administration has promoted new, expanded legal pathways to enter the country in an effort to deter illegal crossings. In September, CBP authorized more than 44,600 people to make appointments on an online system called CBP One, bringing the total to 852,000 since its introduction in January 2023.

Another Biden policy allows up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela with financial sponsors to enter each month through airports. More than 531,000 people from these four countries entered this way until September.

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Associated Press writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed.