Unlawful border crossings have long been a problem along the southwest border of the United States, but the nature of the problem has evolved over time. Compared to 20 years ago, the number of immigrants evading U.S. Border Patrol to enter the country surreptitiously is down. At the same time, the number of individuals apprehended along the border has gone up substantially since the end of the Obama administration and especially since 2020.
What’s different about the border now is that immigrants from a wide variety of countries are turning themselves in to Border Patrol and petitioning for asylum. The border enforcement apparatus was primarily designed to apprehend Mexican immigrants trying to enter without detection. It is ill-suited to address this new challenge. Resolving the border chaos of today requires different policies than those used in the recent past, such as hiring more border agents, increasing barriers and high-tech surveillance, or defaulting to returning migrants to the Mexican side of the border.
