By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada fell in November, a senior U.S. border official told Reuters, part of a months-long trend that undercuts President-elect Donald Trump's claim illegal immigration is out of control.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested some 47,000 migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in November, according to a preliminary tally, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said on Sunday, requesting anonymity to share unpublished data. The figure is a decrease from nearly 57,000 in October and the lowest monthly total since July 2020, during the COVID pandemic and when Trump was still in office.
At the border with Canada, about 700 migrants were caught crossing illegally, down from 1,300 in October, the official said.
Trump, a Republican who recaptured the White House last month, has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and criticized Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for record numbers of migrants caught illegally crossing during Biden's administration.
In a Truth Social post last week, Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada unless the countries stop migrants and illicit fentanyl from entering the U.S., a move that could trigger a trade war if Trump follows through when he takes office on Jan. 20.
In response, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum warned the tariffs would have dire consequences for both countries and suggested possible retaliation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Friday.
U.S. arrests of migrants at the Mexico border have fallen dramatically since Biden imposed restrictions in June that blocked most people crossing illegally from claiming asylum.
At the same time, Mexico has stepped up immigration enforcement, stopping hundreds of thousands of migrants en route to the U.S. since January.
"We really think these sustained reductions demonstrate the continued success of our work to strengthen international collaboration to address migration," the official said.
In his Nov. 25 Truth Social post, Trump said a migrant caravan moving through Mexico appeared to be "unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border."
However, the group, which had totaled several thousand migrants in southern Mexico, has seen its numbers and momentum decrease in recent days.
"Usually by the time they make it even 100 miles (161 km) north into Mexico, they've effectively been dissipated by the Mexican government," the Customs and Border Protection official said.
Biden also has opened up new legal pathways in recent years that have allowed some 1.4 million migrants to enter by air or schedule an appointment to request entry at the U.S.-Mexico border as of October.
Trump has criticized Biden's asylum restrictions, which mirror policies from Trump's first term, as too lax and is expected to immediately roll back the legal entry programs.
The official said the U.S. had taken steps in November to more quickly return migrants to Canada under an existing "safe third country" asylum agreement, which had led to a dropoff in illegal crossings.