May 8 (UPI) — U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested nearly 100,000 undocumented immigrants at the border in April, the second month in a row the number has topped 90,000, federal data indicate.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers apprehended 98,977 people between ports of entry on the southwest border, up from 92,831 in March, a 6.52 percent increase. It was a 157.89 percent increase over April 2018.
Of the 98,977 apprehended, 8,897 were unaccompanied minors, 58,474 belonged to a family unit and 31,606 were single adults.
Additionally, 10,167 people who presented themselves at ports of entry were deemed inadmissible in April, a drop from 10,888 in March. It also was a decrease compared to April 2018, which saw 12,925 people deemed inadmissible.
Taken together, 109,144 immigrants were either apprehended or deemed inadmissible at the border, a 79 percent increase from the beginning of the fiscal year in October.
The influx prompted the White House to ask Congress for $4.5 billion in emergency funds to cover humanitarian assistance and beef up security at the border earlier this month.
“The situation becomes more dire each day. The migration flow and the resulting humanitarian crisis is rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government to respond,” acting White House budget director Russ Vought said in the request.
Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with Migration Policy Institute, said in March that she believes the rising number of undocumented family units and minors at the border are likely because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
“The threat of harsh policies increases arrivals,” she said on Twitter. “For example, the end of family separation ushered in four straight months of the highest family apprehensions on record. Chaos breeding chaos.”
Despite the increases during Trump’s first two years in office, undocumented immigration numbers are still down from figures in previous decades. Border apprehensions reached a peak of 1.6 million in 2000 and have been on a decline, reaching a low of 327,577 since then.
With six months left in the fiscal year, there have been 531,711 apprehensions and inadmissibles, which surpasses the fiscal year 2018 total of 521,090.
