SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. officials say a 98% drop in Venezuelan arrivals has helped lead to a steep decline in migrants crossing the U.S. border illegally from Mexico since pandemic-related asylum limits expired last week. The Border Patrol stopped migrants an average of 4,400 times a day since Friday, including less than 4,000 each of the last two days.
That's down from a daily average of more than 10,000 last week. Blas Nuñez-Neto, a top Homeland Security official, said Wednesday that the numbers are “encouraging” but it's too early to draw conclusions about migration flows in the days and weeks ahead.