U.S. Customs and Border Protection released new detention numbers for May 2019 Wednesday afternoon. They exceed the previous month by more than 30 percent. It's the worst month on record so far this year, the third month in a row with over 100,000 detentions and the worst numbers in over a decade. The chart below says it all.
CBP continues to face a worsening crisis at the Southwest border. In May, CBP apprehended or deemed inadmissible 144,278 individuals along the SWB—a 32% increase over the previous month. Details here: https://t.co/ru9AsalgPb pic.twitter.com/p8kcr5lZ7Y
— CBP (@CBP) June 5, 2019
Border Patrol agents, working between official U.S. ports of entry, apprehended 132,887 individuals who entered the country illegally in May—an average of 4,286 people per day. pic.twitter.com/BC0KMU18Zi
— CBP (@CBP) June 5, 2019
Fueling the humanitarian crisis, large groups and family units continue to make up the bulk of the influx. Detention centers are at full capacity, being described as "bursting at the seems," and thousands of illegal immigrants are being released into the United States as a result.
"88,676 family unit aliens and 11,893 unaccompanied alien children were apprehended or deemed inadmissible in May," CBP released. "Border Patrol apprehended 84,542 family unit aliens in May, up 44 percent from the month before."
Border Patrol agents have encountered over 180 large groups (100+ individuals) along the Southwest border so far in Fiscal Year 2019, compared to 13 in FY18 and only 2 in FY17. During May alone, USBP apprehended 49 large groups, including a group of 1,045 last week in El Paso: pic.twitter.com/MTsuDim54f
— CBP (@CBP) June 5, 2019
On Wednesday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence met with an official delegation from Mexico to discuss how to approach the ongoing disaster moving forward. President Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on the country if they don't do more to stop the illegal flow of people from Central American to the United States.
.@SecPompeo, @DHSMcAleenan, & I will meet shortly with Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs @M_ebrard at the @WhiteHouse. We have a crisis on our Southern Border. @POTUS has made clear that Mexico must do more. https://t.co/XiNBgtrg8i
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) June 5, 2019
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham introduced legislation last night that would solve the crisis by doing the following:
The legislation, which is 11-pages long, allows federal immigration authorities to keep families together in detention centers for 100 days, allows for unaccompanied alien children to be swiftly returned home to their families, reforms the asylum system and clarifies asylum standards for "credible fear" in order to cut down on rampant abuse. Those seeking asylum will be required to do so in a U.S. consulate or embassy in Central America or Mexico.
Graham's legislation also calls for the hiring of 500 additional immigration judges to get through the 900,000 case asylum backlog.