Arrests at the South-West Frontier Exceed 100,000 for a Second Consecutive Month: NPR

The number of apprehended migrants on the southern border has exceeded 100,000 for the second month in a row, according to new figures released by the Trump administration.

Customs and border protection in the United States apprehended 109,144 migrants in April. This represents more than 5,400 people compared to the total in March and is the highest monthly total since 2007.

Border Patrol Leader Carla Provost told a panel of Senate judges that "our numbers on apprehensions are off the table."

"We can not solve this crisis by moving more resources, it's like you're holding a bucket under a tap, no matter how many buckets you give me if we can not stop the flow," he said. she said.

While the number of unauthorized border crossings has increased, the Trump administration has asked some asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their US court hearings.

Advocates of immigration had challenged this policy and a federal judge in San Francisco had issued an injunction. But a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the program could continue as the issue went to court.

According to officials, many migrants are trying to cross families, traveling in large units, from Central America.

"Guatemala and Honduras have seen more than 1% of their population migrate to the United States in the first seven months of this fiscal year," Interior Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said in a quoted speech. by the Washington Post. "A department in Guatemala, Huehuetenango, has seen almost 35,000 of its residents – nearly 3% of the population – migrate to the United States during this period."

Provost stated that some of its agents spent up to 40% of their time looking after families with children, acting as "child care professionals, medical providers, bus drivers and food service workers ".

The administration has asked Congress for additional funding of $ 4.5 billion to deal with the border crisis.