Image Credit: Port Of San Diego, CC BY 2.0
(North County Beat) – According to a fact sheet obtained by Border Report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the number of migrant encounters has decreased by 55% overall since the order was issued on June 4. The San Diego Sector alone has seen a 62% drop in encounters.
The DHS fact sheet highlights that Border Patrol’s seven-day average has decreased to below 1,800 encounters per day. In June, agents recorded a total of 83,536 encounters between ports of entry throughout the southern border, the lowest number since January 2021 and below the number of encounters in June 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the executive order, DHS reports:
- The removal and return of more than 65,000 individuals to over 125 countries, facilitated by over 200 international repatriation flights.
- Doubling the percentage of noncitizens processed through Expedited Removal while in CBP or ICE custody, which was already at record levels before the Proclamation.
- A 70% decrease in the number of people released pending their removal proceedings.
- Continued implementation of measures to increase enforcement resources, such as repatriation flights and detention capacity, with ICE optimizing air charter contracts to maximize weekly repatriation flights.
Over the past year, DHS has removed individuals to various South American and Eastern Hemisphere countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Uzbekistan, and India. Recently, a removal flight was conducted to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). DHS plans to expand the number of removal flights in the coming weeks. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is making 1,450 appointments available per day at eight land ports of entry, including Ped West at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego.
According to the DHS fact sheet, most Southwest border encounters over the past three fiscal years have resulted in removal, return, or expulsion from the U.S.
