SAN DIEGO — With the issue of immigration top of mind for many voters this election cycle, CBS 8 is digging into the numbers to see how border policies may be affecting the flow of migrants across our southern border.
“There’s people from everywhere coming into the U.S./Mexico border," said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Director of the Center of U.S.-Mexican Studies at UC San Diego. "There’s people from China, from India, from Ecuador, from Venezuela, from Haiti, from everywhere.”
Fernandez de Castro told CBS 8 that border encounters ramped up after President Biden took office in January 2021, peaking over the past couple years, but he said that this year, there has been a steady decline.
"Let’s face it, last year 2023 was big immigration flows coming into the U.S,” said Fernandez de Castro. "We have to understand that the Mexico/U.S. border has become the hottest border in the world."
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of encounters across the U.S.-Mexico border surged to 2,378,944 in 2022 and 2,475,669 in 2023. However, reported encounters at the border have shown a downward trend over the past five months.
“Why is that? Because of Biden getting tougher and because of Obrador filtering all of those migrants in transit," said Fernandez de Castro. "There’s no caravans coming into the Mexican territory because Mexico is deterring and stopping those at the Mexican border with Guatemala.”
Fernandez de Castro told CBS 8 Mexican cooperation has been key in stemming some of the flow more recently. He also pointed to Biden’s executive order in June capping the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the U.S. outside normal ports of entry
Though we’ve seen an overall decline across the entire 2,000-mile-long southern border in recent months, encounters are up in the San Diego sector by 60% from 185,347 in fiscal year 2023 to 296,519 so far this fiscal year.
“I believe that Mexicans and Americans, Washington D.C. and Mexico City, will have to pull our act together," said Fernandez de Castro. "We have to collaborate to make sure that only those will enter who should enter legally and orderly."
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