The number of migrant families who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last month set a new record, preliminary data show.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested at least 91,000 migrants who came over as part of a family group, surpassing the previous one-month record set in 2019, when 84,486 migrant families were arrested, according to numbers obtained by The Washington Post.
The figure was the largest demographic to illegally cross the border last month, which was the first time since President Biden took office that the number surpassed single adults.
Overall, the data show, border apprehensions have risen more than 30 percent for two consecutive months, after falling sharply in May and June as the Biden administration rolled out new restrictions and entry opportunities. The Border Patrol made more than 177,000 arrests along the Mexico border in August, up from 132,652 in July and 99,539 in June. [...]
The August tally brings the total number of “family member units” surrendering at the southern border during the current fiscal year to more than half a million people, a record, with one more month to count. [...] (The Washington Post)
Erin Heeter, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, blamed the numbers on "ebbs and flows of migrants arriving fueled by seasonal trends and the efforts of smugglers to use disinformation to prey on vulnerable migrants and encourage migration."
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Since May, DHS has removed or returned over 200,000 migrants, including 17,000 who recently crossed the border illegally as part of a family group.
"The crisis isn’t going to get better until this White House admits that there’s a national security problem," Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said in response to the report.
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