Migrant apprehensions significantly drop at US-Mexico border

Washington, Jan 13 (IANS) Migrant apprehensions at Eagle Pass, Texas, on the US-Mexico border has significantly dropped from thousands in a day to about only 500 this week, according to officials.

Overall migrant encounters on the US southern border topped 10,000 per day in mid-December, then dropped to about 3,000 per day in January, CNN reported.

The dip came after high-level talks between Mexico and the US in Mexico City.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has attributed the dip to enhanced enforcement actions by Mexico, including on trains and buses; Mexico moving migrants along the country’s northern border to the southern border; and Mexico reinstating deportations of Venezuelans.

But tensions remain high between state and federal officials, with Texas blocking the US Border Patrol from accessing miles of the border line.

The state's Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said that Texas is doing everything short of shooting new arrivals to stem the migration flow.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden's administration told the Supreme Court that new barriers recently erected by Texas authorities “reinforce” the federal government’s need for the apex court to quickly intervene in the matter.