Border migrant encounters have dropped by half since Title 42 ended, federal official says

The number of encounters between U.S. agents and migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped by half compared with the days leading up to the expiration of Title 42, the emergency public health order used to quickly expel people from the country, a top Biden administration official said Monday. “It is still early, though, and we are mindful that smugglers will continue to look for ways to take advantage of the change in border policies,” Blas Nuñez-Neto, an assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters in a morning press conference. “It is important to note that while Title 42 has ended, the conditions that are causing hemispheric migration at unprecedented levels have not changed.”