Border Patrol agents in the nation’s two busiest sectors of the U.S.-Mexico boundary apprehended an average of nearly 900 migrant families per day in February.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Paso and Rio Grande Valley Sectors apprehended an average of 891 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) per day in February. This represents an increase of more than 570 percent over last February’s 132 daily average, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Southwest Border Migration Report released last week.
“Smugglers and traffickers have caught on that the outdated laws, lack of resources, and bad court decisions effectively give them a ‘free ticket’ into America,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen told the House Homeland Security Committee last week. “Make no mistake: the problem is getting worse.”
Neilsen said that a disturbing trend in the overwhelming number of migrant families crossing the border is the increasing number of fraudulent family claims. She testified that her agency witnessed a 620 percent increase in families, or those posing as families, who are apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico. – MORE