Illegal crossings along the U.S. southern border are on the rise again, three months after the Biden administration issued new asylum restrictions. 

More than 130,000 migrants were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in July according to data obtained by The Washington Post. That’s a 30% increase from June. 

Authorities say smugglers are using different routes to avoid detection, including the Arizona desert where record-high temperatures have made the journey extremely dangerous.  

The Biden administration implemented new measures in May that require migrants to apply for asylum in other countries before reaching the United States. Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally can be deported and barred for five years. The policy is now being challenged in the courts. 

Joining the discussion: 

• Benjamin Norton is an investigative journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Geopolitical Economy Report. 
• Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch is an immigration attorney. 
• Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas Program. 
• Ariel Ruiz Soto is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Sacramento, California.

Migrants abandoned by smugglers found dead near Texas-Mexico border https://t.co/soCh9a1Yvk

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) August 18, 2023

A joint U.S.-Mexico topographical survey found that 787 feet of the 995-feet-long buoy line set up by Texas are in Mexico.
https://t.co/2psFIzSw2I

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 16, 2023