<span style="color: #222222;">Migrants attempted to cross the US-Mexico border at the highest level in two decades as the United States prepares for even larger numbers with the expected lifting of a pandemic-era order that turned away asylum seekers. According to US Customs and Border Protection data, immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 33 percent increase from a month earlier.<br />''<br />''The new figures were disclosed as the Biden administration comes under increasing pressure over the looming expiration of a public health order that enabled US authorities to turn back most migrants, including people seeking asylum from persecution. The number of migrant encounters has gone up nearly every month since President Joe Biden took office.<br />''<br />''The number of illegal crossings, or those outside official ports of entry, totaled 209,906 in March, surpassing the previous high of Biden's presidency of 200,658 set in July, and the highest level since March 2000, when it reached 220,063.</span><br />