SAN YSIDRO, Calif. (KGTV) — The San Diego border with Mexico has looked different these last few months. Patrol agents are seeing fewer asylum seekers and treating them differently than before.
“We saw historic migration numbers earlier in the year," said Troy Miller, the senior official performing the duties of Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection. "We drastically increased our enforcement efforts and saw a significant decrease in encounters.”
CBP data shows that agents encountered 10,000 fewer people at the San Diego border from June to July. Miller attributes that drop to President Biden’s asylum ban.
“We are putting more individuals into expedited removal, which is enhanced consequences,” Miller said.
Expedited removal essentially allows immigration officers to remove non-citizens without a hearing. Human rights advocate Pedro Rios believes migrants are finding other dangerous ways to cross the border illegally.
“So the degradation of the asylum process is what we’re seeing," Rios said. "It’s now being normalized, and it’s very concerning.”
Miller says CBP has been able to focus its resources at the ports of entry and intercept more drugs like fentanyl.
“All that work has enabled us to further increase our focus on disrupting and dismantling transnational organizations,” Miller said.
He says CBP is also working with Central and South American governments to step up enforcement before these drugs reach the U.S. border.
