WASHINGTON—Illegal border crossings have dropped steeply over the past four months, down from a high of 144,000 in May to 52,000 in September—partly due to new asylum restrictions and in part due to Mexico tightening its border.
Of the almost 1 million illegal border crossers and those deemed inadmissible, only 105,000 claimed credible fear of return to their home country in fiscal year 2019, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
