Border detentions jump 31%, the busiest February since 2007

WASHINGTON — The number of people taken into custody along the Mexico border jumped 31 percent last month as an unprecedented mass migration of families from Central America pushes unauthorized crossings to the highest levels in a decade, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures released Tuesday.

Last month was the busiest February at the border since 2007, officials said, as authorities detained 76,103 migrants, up from 58,207 in January. The percentage of migrants who arrived as part of a family group again also reached a new peak, as 40,325 parents and children were taken into custody, a 67 percent leap from the previous month.

“The system is well beyond capacity and remains at a breaking point,” CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan, the nation’s top border security official, said Tuesday.

The unchecked increases in border crossings are likely to aggravate the increasingly strident debate between supporters of President Donald Trump’s wall-building plan and critics of his administration who have resisted White House attempts to enact tougher enforcement measures.

The February statistics are the clearest indication that unauthorized migration remains on a sharp upward trajectory from a historic low point in 2017.

Homeland Security officials are bracing for an even bigger surge this spring.

McAleenan said his agency has apprehended and processed more families in the first five months and five days of the 2019 fiscal year than during the 2018 fiscal year.

“The situation is not safe for migrants,” he said. “It challenges or ability to provide humanitarian care. It contributes to dangerous conditions on our border, and enables smuggling while enriching criminals.

“Regardless of anyone’s preferred policy outcome, the status quo is unacceptable,” McAleenan said. “It presents an urgent and increasing crisis.”