The number of migrants and asylum seekers encountered by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border has declined by about 90% in the last year, according to a report from the USA TODAY Network released this week.
The news network sent reporters to more than a dozen sites along the Southern border, including parts of California, Arizona, and Texas, and found that border encounters have declined from more than 100,000 a month this time last year to less than 10,000 per month in 2025.
Nieves Riedel, the mayor of the small border town of San Luis, Arizona, and a former Democrat who changed her affiliation to independent, told USA TODAY that former President Joe Biden should have done more to address illegal immigration while he was in office.
"It's sad to really admit the fact that President Biden could have done something sooner because, at the end, I think the last four months, he did. He implemented new rules, and the problems started getting better. But he wasn't fast enough," she said.
Joanna Williams, executive director of the Kino Border Initiative, a faith-based humanitarian organization that runs a shelter for migrants in the Mexican border city of Nogales, said in an interview that "The type of people who are arriving at KBI has changed dramatically," adding, "This time last year, 70% of the people we were receiving were people who were fleeing violence and hadn't yet crossed the border" into the United States.
"Right now, almost all of the newer arrivals are people who have been deported from the U.S.," many of whom were living in the U.S. before their deportation.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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