CBP released border numbers today and they're way down from December:
Total encounters came to 176,000, of which 45,000 were migrants who made appointments for asylum through CBP's mobile app. The number apprehended crossing illegally was 131,000.
In other immigration news, Republicans chose the day of this good news to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. There's no reason for this except to keep public attention on the border via an impeachment proceeding that the media has to report on. Mayorkas has done nothing except disagree with Republicans, and it's not even clear if the Senate will bother with this charade. The New York Times says:
The charges against Mr. Mayorkas are expected to be rejected in the Democratic-led Senate, where conviction would require a two-thirds majority and even some Republicans have called the effort dead on arrival. It was not immediately clear whether senators would hold a trial to consider the articles, or vote to dismiss them.
Does cloture and the filibuster rules apply to motions on rules of an impeachment trial? That is to say, can Democrats do and end-run around the whole process by simply stopping it before an impeachment trial could start?
My understanding is someone can move to dismiss the matter before the trial starts. Rand Paul tried it unsuccessfully in the second Trump impeachment. It would not surprise me if McConnell was in favor of such a motion.
I propose a step back from the brink, a detente:
We'll stop calling out racism and they'll stop being racist. Imagine both of these equally terrible oppression wiped out in a single step of mutual trust.
That was pretty much what the Bush family wanted for the GOP but a majority of the party rejected that notion.
I know the reason! Potential immigrants, like stock market investers, know Mr Trump is going to win in November! They act accordingly!
Murderers have stopped killing so many people for the same reason.
Of course, at a non political level, this impeachment trial is a silly waste of time. Tragically, it seems, politically any public discussion of illegal immigration benefits the GOP.
What's the population in the migrant camps in Mexico?
I can't find current estimates, but if those numbers are dropping, fewer coming across in between official channels.
The Biden administration did get Mexico to stop asylum seekers from jumping on trains to cross the border--that could have an effect too.