Biden administration points to 29% drop in border arrests as RNC turns focus to immigration and crime

By Sam Simpson and Michelle Shen, CNN

(CNN) — The Biden administration is highlighting a considerable drop in arrests on the US southern border as Republican National Convention speakers seek to cast the president as weak on immigration and crime.

Arrests along the US southern border dropped 29% in June, according to new data released by US Customs and Border Protection, following the Biden administration’s order severely limiting asylum-seeker crossings.

June arrests totaled just over 83,000, the lowest since President Joe Biden took office.

“Recent border security measures have made a meaningful impact on our ability to impose consequences for those crossing unlawfully,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller said in a statement.

Last month, the Biden administration invoked an authority to shut off access to asylum for migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally, a significant attempt to address one of the president’s biggest political vulnerabilities. It was the administration’s most dramatic move on the US southern border and used the same authority former President Donald Trump tried to use in office.

Speakers at the Republican National Convention this week have sought to exploit immigration as a key differentiator between Biden and Trump, though many have made false and misleading claims.

The order temporarily freezes asylum processing when daily arrests reach 2,500. Senior administration officials said it would be lifted when there’s a daily average of fewer than 1,500 encounters in between ports of entry. Unaccompanied children, victims of a severe form of trafficking, those who present an acute medical emergency or an imminent and extreme threat to life and safety – among select others – are exempt.

After the order was enacted, USCBP reported that the seven-day average of daily arrests fell more than 50% by the end of last month. Data released by CBP also claimed that the Department of Homeland Security has repatriated more 70,000 individuals to over 170 countries since the order’s implementation.

Removals in the past year exceed removals of any fiscal year since 2010.

Migrant levels surged in 2023, with federal authorities reporting a seven-day average of more than 9,600 migrant encounters along the US southern border in the last month of the year, according to a Homeland Security official, among the highest amounts ever recorded.

Still, Biden’s order received backlash from immigration advocates and member of the Democratic caucus. Later in June, the administration announced another order allowing certain undocumented spouses and children of US citizens to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country.

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