For now (behind a paywall for some):
But migrant crossings have slowed to a near halt, bringing a striking change to the landscape along the southernmost stretch of California.
Shelters that once received migrants have closed, makeshift camps where migrants waited for processing are barren, and nonprofits have begun shifting their services to established immigrants in the U.S. who are facing deportation, or migrants stuck in southern Mexico.
Meanwhile, the Border Patrol, with the assistance of 750 U.S. military troops, has reinforced six miles of the border wall with concertina wire.
...Border Patrol agents in the San Diego sector are now making about 30 to 40 arrests per day, according to the agency. That’s down from more than 1,200 per day during the height of migrant arrivals to the region in April.
In May 2023, the Biden administration ended a pandemic-era policy under which migrants were denied the right to seek asylum and were rapidly returned to Mexico. In the leadup to the policy change, migrants descended on the border by the thousands.
Last April, San Diego became the top region along the border for migrant arrivals for the first time in decades. Stalnaker said there’s been a 70% decrease in migrant arrests so far this fiscal year, compared to the same period last year.
“To say there has been a dramatic change would be an understatement,” he said.
But Stalker noted that Border Patrol expects an increase in attempts by migrants to enter California by boat “as we continue to lock down the border here and secure it.”
With migrants now unable to seek legal ways of entering the U.S. through the asylum process, advocates anticipate that more will begin to risk their lives by attempting to enter illegally through more remote and dangerous terrain. Some desperate enough might even try to jump over all the newly installed concertina wire.
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