Migrants crossing the border without documentation dropped on Friday, the first day after Title 42 was lifted, two U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials told NBC News.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped between 7,500 and 8,000 undocumented migrants on Friday compared to roughly 11,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday and 10,000 on Thursday, the officials said.
These numbers include both migrants who cross illegally between ports of entry — over 7,000 of them on Friday — and those who present themselves legally at ports of entry without proper entry documents.
The Covid-era restrictions that allowed immigration officials to quickly turn away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border expired at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, ushering in tougher policies for asylum-seekers. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that people who did use a lawful pathway to cross the border would be “presumed ineligible for asylum.”
He said agents were ready to humanely process and remove people who are not legally allowed to be in the United States. “The border is not open,” he said earlier this week. “People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequence.”