The News
Global irregular migration has dropped precipitously so far this year compared to 2023, as politicians in both the US and Europe ramp up rhetoric and enforcement targeting illegal border crossings.
In the European Union, irregular crossings fell by 42% in the first nine months of this year, new data from Frontex, the bloc’s border control agency, showed. The drop was especially pronounced in the Western Balkans and Central Mediterranean.
In the US, the number of migrants stopped at the border with Mexico are at their lowest level since 2020.
The trends reflect a global political movement — across the ideological spectrum — to curb illegal immigration.
SIGNALS
‘Orbánisation’ of European policy underway
Migration has dominated European politics for months: Germany implemented new border checks, Italy began shipping migrants to Albania, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made border patrol staffing a priority for her new term. Governments taking a tougher stance on the issue “all face pressure from far-right parties that are laser-focused on migration — or have recently lost elections to them,” Politico wrote. The shifts in posture mean that Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orbán, who has long called for staunch crackdowns, is no longer an outlier in this regard, The Guardian wrote: “The Orbánisation of European migration policy is well under way.”
US sees election-year decline in crossings
Immigration is a top voter priority in the US election, even as it has declined this year. Republican Donald Trump has sought to portray Vice President Kamala Harris as a failed “border czar,” leaning into “fearmongering, falsehoods and stereotypes,” The Washington Post wrote. Harris, meanwhile, has blasted Trump for opposing a bipartisan bill to boost border security. Unprecedented cooperation between the US and Mexico has been central to the decline, The Wall Street Journal wrote: Mexico added patrols and security checkpoints, and the US has disqualified migrants from gaining asylum if they enter illegally. “Not that Democrats are going to win on this issue, but that chaos at the border won’t be on the front pages anymore,” the head of an immigration think tank said.