Immigration is a top issue for many voters heading into the Nov. 5 election. A new report showed arrests at the border declined, which continued the downward trend since June when President Joe Biden put enhanced restrictions in place.
According to the new numbers obtained by Reuters, United States border officials arrested around 54,000 migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in October. That’s much less than the average of 160,000 arrests per month before the administration was forced to impose restrictions on people crossing the border claiming asylum.
In 2023, border agents arrested an average of 170,000 migrants per month. Before that, in 2019, pre-pandemic and during Trump’s presidency, the monthly average was about 71,000.
Trump has promised more immigration reinforcement and historic levels of deportation if he’s reelected. Vice President Kamala Harris said she will also work to enforce tougher border restrictions.
Trump has criticized the Biden-Harris administration for not doing enough on the issue of immigration.
