Topline
Immigration agents caught almost 179,000 people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border last month, Customs and Border Protections said Tuesday, the largest figure in decades — but arrests increased just 3% from March, ending several months of double-digit jumps.
Key Facts
Border arrests in April hit their highest level since at least the early 2000s, and they’re up 63% from April 2019 and more than tenfold from April 2020 (arrests plummeted after former President Donald Trump began rapidly expelling migrants last spring).
Over 60% of last month’s arrestees were single adults, mostly hailing from Mexico — the vast majority of single adults were expelled to the other side of the border within hours, because President Joe Biden has partly continued Trump’s controversial expulsion rule.
The number of unaccompanied minors taken into custody dropped from an all-time high of 18,960 in March to 17,171 in April, relieving some pressure on an overburdened federal shelter system.
Just over 50,000 migrants were arrested in April after crossing with their families, a decrease of about 4,000 from March, but most families apprehended last month were released into the United States until their day in court arrives.
Crucial Quote
“CBP continues to see a large influx of illegal migration along the Southwest Border,” CBP acting head Troy Miller said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Surprising Fact
The number of arrests reported last month is likely far higher than the actual number of people who tried to cross the border. After the United States started expelling border-crossers within hours of their arrest last year, the rate of repeat offenders shot up. Last month, 29% of all migrants who were expelled from the country had unsuccessfully tried to cross the border at least one other time, CBP spokesperson Nate Peeters told Forbes.
Big Number
21,124. That’s how many unaccompanied migrant children were in U.S. custody as of Monday. The number of minors crossing the border shot up this year, and Biden ended Trump’s strategy of rapidly expelling them, forcing the federal government to suddenly find a way to house record numbers of children. In the early months of the Biden administration, many migrant children stayed in crowded Border Patrol facilities, but the vast majority have since been transferred to temporary shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Key Background
Border crossings began creeping up last year and rapidly surged at the beginning of this year, stretching the resources of immigration agencies and causing some politicians to warn of a mounting crisis. The Biden administration has blamed this uptick on seasonal trends as well as poverty and violence in Central America, but some Republican critics argue more people are making the harrowing trek to the U.S.-Mexico border because Biden has promised to undo many of Trump’s hardline immigration policies.
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Southern Border Crossings Hit Record Levels Last Month — But Surge Slowing Down - Forbes
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