Why border crossings have fallen since Trump-era rules expired last week

[Beachnutt]

LA Times
Fewer migrants are crossing the southern border of the U.S., and the doomsday scenarios that many politicians feared would follow the expiration of the pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42 have not materialized.

The reasons for the decline in border crossings are still unclear — and the trend still in its infancy — but interviews with migrants offer some possible explanations.
Many U.S.-bound asylum seekers, aware of the risks of entering the country after the end of Title 42 — including the threats of deportation, a five-year ban on reentering and even criminal prosecution — are playing a waiting game in Mexican border cities.

Cleven Ismael Peraza, a 26-year-old Venezuelan, is among those who hope to enter the U.S. One of more than 3,000 migrants camped out along the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, he said he had been turned back after crossing while Title 42 was in place.
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https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-05-18/border-crossing-numbers-biden-title-42