Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris dealt with questions on border security during her CNN Town Hall this week, responding to arguments that the Biden administration had not acted quickly enough to deal with undocumented migrants entering the U.S.
While GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump has described the administration’s actions as a failure, figures from the last four months have shown a steady and significant reduction in the number of apprehensions along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Harris told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that numbers had more than halved in recent months, pointing to newly released statistics.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a CNN Presidential Town Hall at Sun Center Studios on October 23 in Aston, Pennsylvania. Harris told host Anderson Cooper that the Biden administration had cut the flow of migration by more than half.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The Claim
During a CNN Town Hall on October 23, Harris claimed that the Biden administration had more than halved the “flow of immigration” into the U.S.
“And as of today, we have cut the flow of immigration by over half,” Harris said.
The Facts
Harris made a claim similar to this during her 60 Minutes interview, saying that the flow of immigration had halved, updating that figure to “more than halved” during the CNN Town Hall.
The vice president had been asked by Cooper why the administration had not implemented actions to tackle migration sooner. More specifically, Cooper asked why it had not sooner implemented an order made in June barring migrants who crossed the southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum.
“These actions are not permanent,” a statement from the White House read.
“They will be discontinued when the number of migrants who cross the border between ports of entry is low enough for America’s system to safely and effectively manage border operations.”
Indeed, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for September 2024, there has been a 54 percent reduction in the number of encounters between ports of entry at the southwest border since May 2024, from 117,905 to 53,858.
The percentage decrease is smaller if including encounters between and at ports of entry, reducing from 170,716 in May to 101,790 in September, a reduction of 40 percent. However, these represent a minority of encounters that resulted in Title 8 expulsions or apprehensions and are perhaps less commonly thought of when considering unlawful migration.
The reduction in encounters is much larger when compared to figures from a year ago. CBP recorded 218,763 encounters in September 2023 between ports of entry and 269,735 including ports of entry. The figures for September 2024 represent a 73 percent and 62 percent reduction respectively from last year.
Both as the claim is likely to be understood and by the data available to assess it, Harris’ contention that the flow of immigration has gone down by more than 50 percent is fair.
The Ruling
True.
Data for September 2024 shows a 54 percent reduction in the number of encounters along the southwest border between ports of entry, compared to May 2024, a month before the Biden administration implemented new restrictions on migrants claiming asylum.
The reduction in encounters is even larger when compared to data from September 2023.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
