The number of migrants apprehended while trying to illegally enter the United States from Mexico skyrocketed to more than 50,000 people in March, the highest number since President Trump assumed office 14 months ago.
New data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed 50,308 illegal immigrants were taken into custody at the southwest border last month, a nearly 40 percent increase from February’s 36,695 reported apprehensions.
Apprehensions have been known to jump from February to March due to warming weather and better conditions for migrants to travel from Central America to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California.
However, last year, during Trump’s first few months in office, about 23,500 illegal immigrants were detained in February, and that number dropped by 9,000 in March.
“After historic lows in illegal traffic last year, the numbers are spiking. March numbers up 37% from Feb (largest one month change in at least 8 years) and TRIPLE over March 2017. We must secure our border. As @POTUS has said: All options are on the table,” DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen tweeted Thursday morning.
After historic lows in illegal traffic last year, the numbers are spiking. March numbers up 37% from Feb (largest one month change in at least 8 years) and TRIPLE over March 2017. We must secure our border. As @POTUS has said: All options are on the table. https://t.co/vQQoUgx7RG
— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) April 5, 2018
The level of unaccompanied minors — those under 18 years of age who arrive at the border without a parent or guardian — also jumped to its highest in six months: 4,171. The second-highest month in fiscal year 2018, which started Oct. 1, 2017, was December, when 4,070 were reported.
Family unit levels also peaked in March at 8,882.
March and early April have presented new challenges in border security and interior immigration enforcement for the Trump administration.
Reports of a 1,100-person caravan of Central American people moving north through Mexico prompted Trump on Wednesday to send in the National Guard to secure the border, though Mexico said it was a demonstration only and most had no plans to cross into the U.S.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to complete the 2,000-mile southwest border wall, but Congress has repeatedly failed to fund his project, estimated at $25 billion.
Last month’s omnibus gave the Department of Homeland Security $1.6 billion for 100 miles of new and replacement border wall along the U.S.-Mexico boundary, Acting CBP Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello announced March 30.
The replacement and new wall projects will include Calexico, Calif.; the Rio Grande Valley of Texas; Santa Teresa, N.M.; and San Diego, Calif.
The Border Patrol chief said the needs for the wall were dictated by Border Patrol agents and CBP officers in the field, and chosen based on which sectors face the greatest threat of illegal entrants.
“The truth is walls work and the data shows it and the agents know it,” he added.
CBP wants an additional 1,000 miles of new fencing and said the $25 billion Trump requested in January would be enough to get all of it built.
