Families cross border in record numbers
The number of migrant parents entering the United States with children has surged to record levels in the three months since President Donald Trump ended family separations at the border, dealing the administration a deepening crisis three weeks before the midterm elections.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 16,658 family members in September, the highest onemonth total on record and an 80 percent increase from July, according to unpublished Homeland Security statistics obtained by the Washington Post.
Large groups of 100 or more Central American parents and children have been crossing the Rio Grande and the deserts of Arizona to turn themselves in, and by citing a fear of return, the families are typically assigned a court date and released from custody.
“We’re getting hammered daily,” said one Border Patrol agent in south Texas who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Having campaigned on a promise to stop illegal immigration and build a border wall, Trump now faces a spiraling enforcement challenge with no ready solutions.
Trump has been receiving regular updates on the border numbers, telling senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and chief of staff John Kelly that something has to change, according to senior administration officials.
The president’s welling anger has left him pushing once more for a reinstatement of a family separation policy in some form, which he believes is the only thing that has worked, despite the controversy it triggered.
One senior official conceded that the separations were halted to stanch political fury, but ended up sending a “clear signal” that people could cross, adding “now we’re actually getting crushed.”
Trump continues to criticize Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to work with Mexico to make it tougher for Central American immigrants to cross its southern border, inserting the issue into ongoing trade negotiations.