U.S. border patrol agents have seen a 50% drop in the number of migrants crossing the border since the pandemic-era immigration policy known as Title 42 expired at midnight on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

"Over the past two days, the United States Border Patrol has experienced a 50% drop in the number of encounters versus what we were experiencing earlier in the week before Title 42 ended at midnight on Thursday," Mayorkas said.

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said Sunday that Customs and Border Patrol agents did not expect a brief lull in the mass border crossings to be a permanent development.

Melugin said that although there had been a precipitous drop in crossings in the days since Title 42 — a Trump-era policy that allowed deportations based on the ongoing public health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic — agents believe that once focus is diverted elsewhere, the numbers will begin to climb again.

The number of crossings along the U.S. southern border has dropped by 50% since pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired on Thursday, contradicting earlier fears that there would be a surge, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday.

U.S. Border Patrol counted roughly 6,300 crossings on Friday and 4,300 on Saturday, down from more than 10,000 before Title 42 expired on Thursday night, Mayorkas told CNN’s Dana Bash.