Migrant Families Arrive In Busloads As Border Crossings Hit 10-Year High

Ramon Espinosa/AP

NPR reports that the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended more than 66,000 migrants at the Southern border in February, the highest total for a single month in almost a decade. The majority of those arrested were migrant families or children traveling alone or without a parent, according to figures released yesterday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Many of the migrants say they’re fleeing criminal gangs and poverty in Central America to seek asylum in the United States.

Even with the recent climb, illegal border crossings are still well below historical highs. But the makeup of the migrant population has changed dramatically from 20 years ago, when it was mostly single men from Mexico. Border Patrol officials say their infrastructure wasn’t designed for the flood of migrant families and children arriving now.

Since last year, Border Patrol agents say, they have routinely encountered large groups of a hundred or more migrants at the border, many of them arriving by bus from Guatemala. According to immigration authorities, the passengers consist almost entirely of families and children who are looking for Border Patrol agents to turn themselves in to.

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U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions FY 2019