Migrant Numbers Exceeded 200,000 Encounters Again in May as Title 42 Expired

There were more than 200,000 Customs and Border Protection (CPB) encounters with migrants at the southern border in May as officials saw record daily highs before the end of Title 42 – followed by a sharp decrease once the public health order ended.

There were 204,561 encounters at the southern border in May. {snip}

May saw some of the busiest days at the border ahead of the end of the Title 42 public health order on May 11. The order had allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its looming end brought fears of a new migrant wave at the border — even amid an already historic crisis.

Those fears appeared to be justified as the border saw over 10,000 migrant encounters a day in the days before May 11. The Biden administration moved to release migrants into the interior without a court date due to overcrowding but was quickly blocked by a federal judge in response to a lawsuit from Florida.

As the order ended, the Biden administration broadened legal pathways for migrants, including setting up processing centers in Central America and encouraged the use of a CBP One app to allow for over 1,000 migrants to enter a day for an appointment to be processed in. {snip}

Since May 11, numbers dropped sharply, with officials touting a 70% drop in encounters to above 3,000 a day. So far those numbers have appeared to have remained at around that level.

{snip}