U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Friday that the number of migrant encounters along the southwest border last month fell to a four-year low.
“In July, Border Patrol recorded 56,408 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border,” CBP said. stated in a press release“This is the lowest monthly total since September 2020.”
Friday’s press release follows executive actions taken by President Biden in June to turn away migrants illegally crossing the southern border during a period of high migration encounters.
“Our border security actions have strengthened our ability to punish those entering the country illegally, resulting in the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in more than three years,” Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement last month.
“We work closely with our international partners to pursue transnational criminal organizations that sow chaos and put profits over human lives, and this month we announced increased enforcement actions to attack the fentanyl supply chain,” Miller continued. “These efforts are paying off, with CBP making the largest fentanyl seizure in the agency’s history just a few weeks ago. We remain vigilant in these efforts along with our partners.”
Friday’s press release also comes after months of fighting over the southern border, where a bipartisan bill to address border security has been rejected twice by the Senate within the past year.
Former President Trump called the border bill a “Republican death wish” in February.
“We have the right to close the border now, and that must be done, but only a fool or a far-left Democrat would vote for this horrible border bill that gives us the authority to close it only after 5,000 encounters in one day,” the former president said on Truth Social about the bill.
