Illegal border crossing rate still high despite crackdown

The number of migrants attempting to cross illegally into the United States remained high in May, according to administration officials and Border Patrol agents, an early indication that “zero tolerance” measures separating parents from their children and President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops have not had an immediate deterrent effect.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to publish its closely watched monthly arrest totals in coming days.

In March and again in April, border arrests exceeded 50,000, the highest monthly totals of Trump’s presidency.

The Trump administration is preparing to renew its push for an $18 billion border wall plan that would also tighten asylum procedures and overhaul other laws Trump officials say are encouraging illegal behavior. Trump has threatened to shut down the government this fall if Democrats don’t provide the funds.

Large groups of Central American migrants have been taken into custody in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas in recent weeks, according to Border Patrol agents, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss operations. “The numbers have been very high,” said one agent assigned to the Rio Grande Valley, the nation’s busiest corridor for illegal migration. “It’s to the point that we have had to bring in buses and load these folks up, or send four of five vans at a time.”

The Justice Department has reassigned additional prosecutors to the border region to increase the number of migrants it charges with federal crimes, but one veteran border agent said it was “too early to tell” if the tougher enforcement measures were giving pause to migrants thinking of making the journey from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

“The bottom line is Congress needs to act and close loopholes that serve as a tremendous pull factor for illegal immigration,” said Tyler Houlton, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman. “The Trump administration is restoring the rule of law by increasing prosecutions of illegal border crossers.”

More than 10,800 migrant children were in federal custody as of May 31, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, up 21 percent since the end of April. The agency’s shelters are 95 percent full and Department of Health and Human Services officials say they are preparing to add thousands of additional beds to cope with the increase.