Biden's Executive Action Leads to 25% Drop in Migrant Crossings But Controversy Persists

A week after President Joe Biden signed an executive action to “suspend the entry” of immigrants who cross the border illegally, the number of migrants has fallen by 25%, but officials are still releasing some illegal border crossers inside the U.S., several Department of Homeland Security officials said.

In some areas, border agents are pushing migrants from Central America back into Mexico instead of deporting them to their home countries, as the executive action detailed, according to immigration advocates and an internal memo seen by NBC News. The memo was first reported by the New York Post.

Impact of the Executive Action

A senior DHS official said that early numbers indicate the executive action has deterred some migrants from crossing the southern border. Illegal crossings were down from 4,000 per day last week to 3,000 per day as of Tuesday, according to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News. Biden’s executive action limiting which migrants can claim asylum went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, June 5.

But even though the action bars migrants from seeking asylum if they crossed the border illegally, the administration is still releasing illegal crossers inside the U.S. to live while they pursue asylum claims in immigration court, the DHS official said.

Potential Ineligibility and Deportation

The senior DHS official said that some migrants who have crossed illegally since last Wednesday and been released into the U.S. may be found ineligible at their asylum hearings and sent home for violating the executive action.

And despite the action stating that the U.S. would deport anyone found ineligible for asylum back to their home countries, immigration advocates say that, in some sections of the border, migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are being sent back into Mexico instead.

Challenges Faced Due to Lack of Resources

The senior DHS official said that without money from Congress for more detention space and deportation flights, Border Patrol will continue to be forced to release some illegal border crossers into the U.S., particularly those from countries that Mexico is reluctant to accept.

In San Diego, where the number of migrants from China and elsewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere has soared this year, the memo states that Border Patrol agents are instructed to send migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras or Mexico back into Mexico, but to release migrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and any other countries inside the U.S.

Expectations of Border Patrol Union

A representative of the Border Patrol union expects the decline in illegal border crossings after the executive action went into effect to be short-lived. Hector Garza, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, expressed that these declines in crossings are temporary whenever there's a new policy, and that smugglers quickly adapt their strategies.

The new policy could also soon be blocked in court. In a court filing in Washington on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union led a lawsuit with several immigration organizations against the Biden administration seeking to end the executive action.