Unauthorized border crossings into U.S. highest in 12 years

The number of migrants taken into custody along the U.S. southern border soared to nearly 1 million during the government’s 2019 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data released Tuesday.

The number of unauthorized crossings from Mexico into the United States marked the highest volume in 12 years, amid a record influx of Central American families that peaked during the spring, overwhelming U.S. agents, border stations and immigration courtrooms.

Mark Morgan, the acting CBP commissioner, told reporters at a White House briefing that more than 52,000 migrants were taken into custody in September at U.S. ports of entry and between them, a decline of 18% from August.

Overall, U.S. border authorities made 977,509 arrests in fiscal year 2019, up 88% from last year and the most since 2007. Morgan called it a “staggering” increase.

“These are numbers no immigration system in the world is designed to handle,” he said.

Arrests by U.S. border agents reached an all-time high of 1.6 million in 2000, but Department of Homeland Security officials insist that the migration wave they faced this year is unlike anything before.

A generation ago, most of the migrants crossing the border illegally were single adults from Mexico who could be quickly processed and deported.

This year, Central American parents with children became the overwhelming majority of border crossers. Instead of seeking to evade capture, many sought out U.S. agents to surrender and stated a fear of being sent home, the first step in seeking asylum or another form of legal protection in the United States.

Court limits on the amount of time minors can be held in CBP custody mean that nearly any parent who arrived with a child could expect to be issued a notice to appear in court and to be released into the U.S. interior within a few days.

Homeland security officials said smuggling organizations have been reaping huge profits by exploiting this “loophole,” reaping huge profits by marketing an easy trip north.

The surge reached its height in May, when more than 144,000 were taken into custody, including one group of 1,036 that crossed the border into El Paso, Texas, to surrender.

LYNSEY ADDARIO / THE NEW YORK TIMES Migrants are detained in Laredo, Texas, in September after trying to cross into the United States. During one day, agents in Laredo apprehended 111 people crammed into the backs of three tractor-trailers, one of which was 104 degrees inside.