The number of migrants in border towns and some major U.S. cities has dropped, shelter operators say

Shelters along the southern U.S. border and in some major cities that were flooded with migrants a year ago say they are seeing a sharp drop in the number of migrants seeking asylum, with some reporting declines of up to 60% in the past few months alone.

In July, the White House said the number of migrants apprehended at the southwest border had dropped 50% in the month since President Joe Biden took effect in June an executive order limiting asylum applications. Now, the effects of Biden’s order are being felt on the emergency shelter infrastructure that has grown in recent years to handle what was a record surge in migrants.

A year ago, the long Texas-Mexico border was one of the busiest for migrants. But in Del Rio, Texas, Tiffany Burrow of the Val Verde Humanitarian Border Coalition said the flow of migrants needing shelter has decreased dramatically.

This week at the El Paso Rescue Mission, there were about 80 to 90 people using beds, down from about 200 the same week a year ago, CEO Blake Barrow said. At the nearby Annunciation House shelter, executive director Ruben Garcia said he received only seven migrants in need of beds from Border Patrol that day and 25 people the day before, a drastic decrease from last year, when Border Patrol was sending migrants by the hundreds to shelters like his.

But Garcia said the decline was not entirely due to Biden's executive decision.

“We started to see a much sharper reduction after Biden’s executive order went into effect,” he said, “but we were already seeing a decline because of Mexico’s enforcement. I think if Mexico stopped its aggressive enforcement, Biden’s executive order would be very difficult to enforce.”

After negotiations with the Biden administration, the Mexican government, under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his successor Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office on October 1, has stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants northward through Mexican territory. Data from Mexico’s National Migration Institute shows how Mexico’s role in law enforcement has been critical in blocking, intercepting and, in some cases, expelling migrants bound for the United States.

The Mexican government’s measures have been particularly important in reducing the overall number of non-Mexican migrants arriving in the United States, as the number of people from other countries trying to reach the United States through Mexico has exploded. In June, the latest month for which data from the National Migration Institute is available, the country recorded 121,536 encounters with migrants heading north from countries outside Mexico, such as Guatemala and Venezuela, compared with 58,251 in June 2023.

Mexico's tightening of crackdowns and the effects of Biden's executive action can also be seen in shelters on the southern side of the border.

A shelter operator in Nogales, Mexico, the sister city of Nogales, Arizona, said he is now receiving about 60 to 100 U.S.-bound migrants a day, an 80% drop from last year.

In Matamoros, just across the street from Brownsville, Texas, Pastor Abraham Barberi regularly brings food and water to migrant camps. He says the once-sprawling camps are down to just 25 migrants, with another 400 in a nearby shelter.

This is a sharp drop from 2023. At this time last year, the refugee camp had about 2,000 to 3,000 people, he said.

He said increased use of the U.S. government’s CBP One app, which migrants can use to apply for asylum without entering the United States, contributed to the decline. “I think now people are thinking, ‘I don’t need to go all the way to the border, I don’t need to cross the river illegally,’” he said.

According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, between January 2023 and July 2024, approximately 188,500 migrants used the CBP One app to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry.

In U.S. border cities outside Texas and in cities far north of the border, migrant populations have also plummeted.

In Tucson, Arizona, George Rushing, who runs the Casa Alitas shelter, which houses children and families, said that since Biden’s executive order, his shelter has seen a 60% drop in residents. A city spokesperson said that on-demand contracts with hotels to house migrants are no longer active.

In Pima County, which includes Tucson, the migrant shelter population at the beginning of June was 3,751. By mid-July, it had fallen to 913.

In Chicago, the total population dropped from more than 13,000 in February to 5,594 in August. This is partly due to the city's decision to evict migrants from shelters after a set period of time, as well as the resettlement of migrants in other locations and the need for migrants to find their own housing.

The decline is similar in Denver, where nonprofit leaders now report a sharp drop in arrivals. About a year ago, the number of migrants receiving city services, such as shelter and travel assistance, was about 600; it then jumped to more than 3,700. This week, it was down to about 230. The city closed its last hotel shelter in June, but has kept other sites open for new arrivals.

“We went from emergency response to sustainability because some of these people chose to make Denver their home,” said Yoli Casas, who teaches resettlement classes at her nonprofit ViVe Wellness as part of the city’s pilot program to convert 800 asylum seekers into a viable workforce once they are legally allowed to work.

In other cities, the shelter population has not declined as sharply.

In San Diego, the flow of migrants has dropped from 1,596 arrivals per week last August to 1,100 per week, said a spokesman for Jewish Family Service of San Diego, which runs the city's shelter network.

In New York City, the migrant population in the city's shelters remains stable at 64,300, just 1,000 fewer than a few months ago, according to Kat Capossela, a spokeswoman for the city's comptroller.

Josh Goldfein, who directs the Homeless Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society of New York, said the city has a right-to-shelter law, unlike other cities, where shelters can simply close to reduce the population. Plus, historically, New York is New York. People are going to stay here because they’ve integrated into the economy.

In places that have seen a decline in their migrant populations, some shelter operators say they are waiting to see if the temporary lull persists after the U.S. elections in November.

“I think what we’re seeing right now is going to continue for the next couple of months,” said Garcia of Annunciation House. He also noted, however, that while the numbers are now “really, really low,” the factors driving migration and the demographics of those heading north have not changed.

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