Close “encounters” at the Migrant Border

Migrant encounters refer to two distinct kinds of events:

·      Apprehensions, in which migrants are taken into custody in the United States to await adjudication.

·      Expulsions, in which migrants are immediately expelled to their home country or last country of transit without being held in U.S. custody.

The U.S. Border Patrol reported nearly 200,000 encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, the highest monthly total in more than two decades.

The number of monthly encounters had fallen as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.  Borders around the globe were closed and the southwestern border was no different.  Migration from Central America to Mexico also slowed greatly. However this summer, migrant encounters have greatly increased according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a Department of Homeland Security.

Most encounters that have occurred in recent months have resulted in expulsion, not apprehension, because of a new public health order (Title 42) from the Trump Administration that argued that in order to slow the spread of Covid-19, migrants should be expelled instead of detained in close quarters in U.S. immigration facilities. According to a CDC report, between April 2020 and December 2020 (the end of the Trump administration), more than 80% of monthly migrant encounters at the southwestern border resulted in expulsion rather than apprehension.

In 2021, the number of expulsions is declining and apprehensions more common. In the same CDC report, during the month of July, 47% of migrant encounters resulted in expulsion, down from 83% in January. During the same period, the share of migrant encounters that resulted in apprehension rose from 17% to 53%.

However, the current administration is continuing to allow Title 42 expulsions.  They claim that the expulsions are necessary to deal with the threat of the delta variant. I am very hopeful that the Biden administration will offer free coronavirus vaccines to all migrants. It is very difficult to obtain vaccines in Mexico and other Central American countries. I tried to find data to factually support a trend that one article claimed was occurring. Because vaccines are so difficult to obtain that more single adult migrants are trying to cross the border to at least vaccinate themselves.

Unfortunately, the rollout of vaccines on a global basis has not been as widespread as it has been in the US.  Although I do believe that the Title 42 Public Health order should be relaxed, I also believe that greater allocations of vaccines should be provided to neighboring countries in a systematic and coordinated effort. It is important to support greater vaccine rates for our border countries as first-generation Americans and newly accepted immigrants will want to visit their home countries and feel less vulnerable when there.

Sources

Migrant encounters at U.S.-Mexico border are at a 21-year high, John Gramlich (August 13, 2021)

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters, US Customs and Border Protection Encounters, Department of Homeland Security

US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control (CDC); Public Health Service Act Section 362 and 365