Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico plummeted 33% in July to the lowest level since September 2020, a result of asylum being temporarily suspended, authorities said Friday.

The Border Patrol made 56,408 arrests last month, down from 83,536 arrests in June, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, its parent agency.

Asylum was halted at the border June 5 because arrests for illegal crossings topped a threshold of 2,500 a day, though a lack of deportation flights prevents authorities from turning away everyone. U.S. authorities say arrests dropped 55% after the measure, which followed a steep decline earlier this year that was widely attributed to Mexican authorities increasing enforcement within their borders.

“In July, our border security measures enhanced our ability to deliver consequences for illegal entry,” said Troy Miller, acting CBP commissioner.

The numbers, which were roughly in line with preliminary estimates, may give Democrats some breathing room on an issue that has dogged them throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has taken effective action, and the Republicans continue to do nothing,” said White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández.

More than 38,000 people were admitted at land crossings through an online appointment system called CBP One, bringing the total to more than 765,000 since it was introduced in January 2023.

More than 520,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela were admitted through July under a separate policy allowing people from those four countries to apply online with a financial sponsor and arrive at an airport. Permits were recently halted amid concerns about fraud by sponsors.

“(The Department of Homeland Security) is working to restart applications processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards,” CBP said in a statement.

CBP said Friday that it will expand areas where non-Mexican migrants can apply online for appointments to seek U.S. asylum on Aug. 23 to a large swath of southern Mexico.

Migrants will be able to schedule appointments on the CBP One app from the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, extending the zone from northern and central Mexico. Mexicans can apply anywhere in the country.

The move requested by Mexico could ease the strain on the Mexican government by allowing migrants to wait for their appointments in the south farther from the U.S. border and lessen dangers for people trying to reach the U.S. border to claim asylum.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, criticized the Biden administration’s new and expanded legal pathways at the border.

“This administration is orchestrating a massive shell game, encouraging otherwise-inadmissible aliens to cross at ports of entry instead of between them, thereby creating a façade of improved optics for the administration, but in reality imposing a growing burden on our communities,” he said.

(AP)