CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday she was pleased to hear that illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico were coming down, but she still called for additional funding and resources.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that illegal crossings at the U.S. Southern border had decreased by more than 70 percent since the Title 42 COVID-19 expulsion policy ended on May 11.
According to DHS, more than 38,400 noncitizens were repatriated to more than 80 countries between May 12 and June 2 due to new expedited removal procedures under Title 8, a rule giving the federal government the authority to send back any person who cannot prove they are in the country legally. Of that number, more than 14,000 were migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported an average of 3,700 unscheduled encounters at the border.
“The Administration’s plan is working as intended,” according to the DHS press release. “We are cognizant, however, that the conditions in the hemisphere that are driving unprecedented movements of people are still present and that the cartels and coyotes will continue to spread disinformation about any potential changes to policies at the border in order to put migrants’ lives at risk for profit. We will remain vigilant and continue to execute our plan, making adjustments where needed.”
In April, the month prior to the end of Title 43, CBP reported more than 211,401 Southwest land border encounters, with December 2022 peaking at 251,644 border encounters. Republicans in Congress – and even officials in the administration of President Joe Biden – anticipated a surge of migrants at the border once Title 42 expired May 11.
Capito, R-W.Va., speaking to reporters Thursdays in a virtual briefing, said she had not seen the most recent press release or data from DHS. While she was quick to praise the decrease in border encounters, she said numbers are still higher than acceptable.
“Yes, they are down, but they still are enormously higher than at any average time during our immigration when we began to take statistics and keep statistics,” Capito said. “They’re still very, very high. They’re just not as high as they were. So, I think that’s good news that they’re coming down.”
Several states, including West Virginia, have sent or are sending members of their National Guard to the Southern border at the request of Texas, because of the anticipated surge in migrants that hasn’t occurred. Gov. Jim Justice is sending 50 members of the West Virginia National Guard at a cost of approximately $600,000 being borne by West Virginia taxpayers.
Title 42 was a COVID-19 health order holdover from the administration of former President Donald Trump that sent asylum seekers back to their countries of origin to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. The Biden administration initially kept Title 42 in place but attempts to end the policy were halted by the courts. The end of the federal COVID-19 state of emergency in May brought Title 42 to an end.
Capito credited the Biden administration for implementing new immigration and border policies that funneling migrants into legal points of entry and its expedited removal procedures. But she called for additional funding for border officers, continued work on a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and putting back in place the Return to Mexico policy, where those seeking amnesty have to stay in Mexico until the U.S. determines their status.
“If you’re caught coming through an illegal point of entry, then your chance of ever getting here is quite diminished, and I think that’s a good policy,” Capito said. “There’s other things we can do. They still need the resources. We still need to keep building the wall and using our surveillance. And we need to also put Return to Mexico, where you saw that as a deterrent during the Trump administration. I’m pleased the numbers are down, but they are still way too high.”