Border enforcement chief holds briefing on migrant apprehensions

Washington — The top Trump administration official at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is expected to discuss a third consecutive monthly drop in apprehensions of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border during a press briefing at the White House on Monday afternoon. 

The briefing is slated to start at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

Since a 13-year monthly high in apprehensions in May — when U.S. officials apprehended nearly 133,000 migrants — arrests along the southern border have decreased substantially in June and July. Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan is set to reveal that the trend continued during the rest of the summer by announcing the number of apprehensions in August. 

For the past two months, the Trump administration has attributed the decline in border arrests to the agreement it brokered with the Mexican government in June after the president threatened to impose tariffs on goods coming from Mexico unless the country did more to deter migrants from Central America and other parts of the world from reaching the U.S. 

After the agreement was reached, U.S. officials pointed directly to more aggressive Mexican immigration enforcement and the expansion of the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program when discussing the drop in apprehensions. The policy has required tens of thousands of migrants to wait in Mexico for months while their asylum cases are processed in the U.S., and the administration believes it has been an effective deterrent for those considering the journey north. 

Morgan’s briefing also comes a day before a diplomatic delegation led by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Washington to review the agreement forged in early June.