The biggest spectacle in Washington this week was the unraveling of an immigration deal in Congress, a border security bill that Republicans pushed for, only to turn against it because former President Donald Trump didn’t want any legislation that might help President Biden stay in the White House this fall.
But more complicated and consequential is what’s been happening on immigration far from Washington. And although the political stakes of immigration in Congress and at the White House are high in an election year, they are far higher for the growing number of migrants who have been making their way to the US in recent years.
Here are the answers to seven big questions about migrants, immigration, and the situation on the US border and beyond.
1) What’s happening at the US-Mexico border?
Many more people than usual are trying to cross into the United States. The number of times US immigration agents intercepted migrants attempting to cross the border exceeded 300,000 in December, the highest number in over two decades and up from about 250,000 in December 2022. Those numbers are largely driven by migrants coming from Central and South America, the Caribbean, Cuba, and Haiti, though Chinese migrants are the fastest-growing group of arrivals.
Many of those intercepted at the border are turned away immediately under current policies, but those who are allowed to pursue their claims for asylum or humanitarian relief can either be detained or released into the US while undergoing deportation proceedings that can stretch out for years. Almost 200,000 migrants were released and enrolled in case management programs in fiscal year 2023.
There are signs that migrant arrivals slowed in January, though US immigration officials have yet to release the official count for the month. Daily totals had just about halved by the end of January from their peak in December. But such a decline is typical over the winter months.
While border crossings are an important…
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