Record number of migrant families held in December
WASHINGTON — A busy December set a record for the number of migrant parents and children taken into custody, as U.S. border agents arrested 27,518 members of “family units,” according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics obtained by The Washington Post.
Overall, authorities detained 60,782 migrants attempting to enter the United States without authorization. It marked the third consecutive month that the figure — the most widely-used barometer of border trends — topped 60,000, remaining near the highest levels of the Trump presidency.
In December, U.S. agents struggled to cope with the family surge, as Border Patrol holding cells filled with youngsters and became miserably crowded and unhealthy. Two Guatemalan children died after being taken into custody, prompting Department of Homeland Security officials to declare a “humanitarian and national security crisis.”
There have been signs that the migration surge has abruptly receded in recent days. Border stations and shelters that were at crisis levels in late December are seeing a sudden drop in the number of families arriving in the past week, according to lawmakers and charity groups.
The change has perplexed Homeland Security officials, while providing a minor reprieve for frustrated U.S. border agents.