Record numbers of families streamed across U.S border illegally in August -with migrant arrests surging over 30% overall

US Border Patrol arrested at least 91,000 migrants crossing the overcrowded border as part of family groups in August — while detentions rose 30 percent for two consecutive months.

For the first time during Joe Biden’s presidency, families were the largest demographic group moving across the US-Mexico border—surpassing single adults. The influx follows the introduction of new restrictions to slow down illegal crossings.

This is more than the previous monthly record of 84,486 set in May 2019, which occurred during Donald Trump’s tenure. Washington Post reports.

The number of family units entering the U.S. in August brings the total number this fiscal year to more than half a million people, preliminary data shows.

A family of migrants, with young children being held by adults, stand next to a barbed wire fence as a member of the Texas National Guard stands guard on the banks of the Rio Bravo River on August 28, 2023

Migrants — including young children still wearing diapers — cross the Rio Grande into the United States on August 4, 2023

The influx of children traveling with adults to enter the US has shown that Biden’s mere warnings about families not crossing the border have gone unheeded.

In August, footage from the border showed a number of families — including very young children, toddlers and babies — rushing through walkways, wading through rivers and climbing fences to enter Texas.

On August 4, a group of adult migrants with at least three accompanying children were seen crossing the Rio Grande in desperation, while the diaper-wearing children traveled on their shoulders.

And footage from August 21 showed mothers and fathers hoisting their barefoot children over barbed wire fences as they struggled to enter the US.

Border Patrol made more than 177,000 arrests along the Mexican border in August, according to the Post’s data. This was an increase from 132,652 in July and 99,539 in June.

Erin Heeter, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said they have repatriated more than 17,000 parents and children since May.

She said current moves are “fueled by seasonal trends.”

Under the Trump administration, they tried to take children from their parents as a deterrent to prevent families from crossing the US-Mexico border – before turning their attention to expanding the “Stay in Mexico” program.

A group of migrants from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala successfully scale a border fence

Migrants — including young children — from Central America search for an opening in the accordion wire barrier south of Eagle Pass, where a series of 1,000-foot-long buoys have been placed in the river to prevent them from crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas

In March, it was reported that Biden was considering a major U-turn in his immigration policy, as government officials considered reviving a Trump-era policy of detaining families illegally crossing the southern border.

The president eliminated this practice when he took office and actively campaigned against it, saying that “families belong together.”

But when Title 42 — a pandemic-era measure that allows authorities to immediately deport migrants — expired in May, senior White House and Homeland Security officials discussed the possibility of reinstating the program, the New York Times reported. .

Biden campaigned against his predecessor’s use of family detention, which was also practiced under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president.

He even tweeted in June 2020, when a federal judge ordered the release of migrant children from detention centers due to the global pandemic, “Children should be immediately released from ICE detention along with their parents.

The influx of children traveling with adults to enter the US has shown that Biden’s mere warnings about families not crossing the border have gone unheeded.

A family of five claiming to be from Guatemala and a man claiming to be from Peru, wearing a pink shirt, walk through the desert after breaking down the border wall in the Tucson sector of the US-US border on August 29, 2023. crossed into Mexico.

Migrant families try to cross the border between Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass in Piedras Negras, Mexico on August 4, 2023

“This is pretty simple, and I can’t believe I have to say it: Families belong together.”

Almost immediately after taking office, he closed all family detention centers in the United States as he sought a more humane approach to immigration.

Instead, the Biden administration instituted the practice of temporarily allowing families into the country and using ankle bracelets, traceable cell phones and other methods to monitor them.

Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has since considered ending family detention as one of his most important achievements.

And the Biden administration touted the end of the program in its funding request for the 2023 fiscal year, writing, “To ensure more humane treatment of families, the administration is de-emphasizing family detention practices.”