Despite lifting of pandemic asylum restrictions, crisis at the border appears to be easing

the border crisis may have reached its peak despite predictions of a nonstop flood of migrants. Some border cities say the number of asylum seekers is dropping, but will that trend hold? Apparently nobody knows right now. K Countess political reporter Tom Wait is here now live with the very latest from California's border with Mexico and the very latest from our leaders in Washington. Tom and one, I think you know you pose the question what happens next in terms of will there be more people officials that we've been talking to say they're just giving a real time to talk about the situation. And I think that the question is, what is the next step? I think that's the next step. And I think that's the next step. I think that we've got to be very careful with the government because they're not looking to say they're just giving a really close I will there be more people coming later will see right.

So the mayor of El Paso and humanitarian groups say the crush that's being going on for weeks may be easing and the first twenty four hours of new federal asylum rules have not led to a massive spike in migrants along California's border with Mexico. There is still a great need though, but it appears the border patrol has not been cold families from across the world continued their push to cross into the United States. Parents with their kids risking everything. Venezuelan migrant Alejandro Gonzalez is among them. We lost everything. We have nothing. We are here in faith that they will let us in.

At the border barrier near San Diego, these faces tell so many stories. Apprehension, stress and hope. Is this worth it? In reality, if we're allowed to enter the country, that it's worth it. But if not, we've lived a lot of terrible things. This 19-year-old came from Colombia, a long journey like so many, and now so close to their destination but with so little, not even enough blankets. This man from Honduras says it was a cold night and conditions are very bad for those waiting. Volunteers are stepping in to help as much as they can.

I've been a resident of San Diego for 30 years and we have never seen what we are seeing today. With so many showing up at the border fence with only the clothes on their backs, volunteers have become a critical lifeline. We've been able to pull it together and answer to the call of bring me water, bring me a blanket, bring me some kind of sense of belonging and that's what we're trying to do. It's unsustainable, it's unhealthy. We had a couple of people pass out yesterday. A Colombian migrant is registered nurse in her country and she was able to help. Despite the crowds of desperate people we saw in San Ysidro Friday, immigration officials say they did not see the feared crush of migrants they were expecting.

And in some places like El Paso, the number of people seeking asylum has actually started to decrease. The Biden administration put in place new rules that migrants can be blocked from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they do not first apply online or seek out asylum in a country they've traveled through to reach the U.S. What we need is Congress to act, to pass legislative reform. Everyone agrees that our immigration system has been broken for more than two decades.

Potentially dealing a blow to the Biden administration's new policies, Mexico announced it won't admit more than a thousand migrants a day from those expelled from the United States. So a lot going on there. Indeed, Tom, and you know, when you were there at the border, any sense on what's to come based on what you saw while you were there? Well, you know, there was just a lot of hope there. There's a lot of apprehension. People are very scared. But they have this belief that, you know, they don't know all these new rules that are coming in place. And they don't because there's rules ending, new rules starting.

They're not sure what's going on. They're just taking this day by day. Let me get in. Let me get my application. Let me process that and see if I can, you know, if I can make it through to the other side literally. And they're acting based on information they received months ago, right? When Title 42 was still in place. Exactly.

Title 42 is the COVID era policy for folks who don't know. It made it easier to expel migrants. So now new rules in that word will get to migrants maybe wanting to come. Exactly. And a lot of misinformation too from smugglers, from social media. So a lot of people may have been coming here with outdated information or information that just wasn't even correct. And a lot of desperation too, right? So much desperation.

All right. Tom White, thanks so much.

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