Crisis worsens: 178,622 attempted to cross US-Mexico border illegally in April, most in two decades

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Federal law enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border stopped 178,622 people trying to enter the country illegally in April, the highest amount in more than two decades.

The April total is up 3% from 172,331 in March, which was a 20-year high for the number of people who tried to get into the United States by sneaking over between land crossings or were denied entry at border checkpoints. Roughly 5,160 of the 178,622 people encountered were denied entry at a port of entry, while the remainder went across the border in unfenced areas.

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Since fiscal 2021 year began in October 2020, nearly 750,000 people have been encountered unlawfully trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico, more than the 459,000 in all of 2020.

It is the third month since President Joe Biden took office and introduced major reforms to border processes that the number of people trying to immigrate has greatly increased. Over the past decade, an average of 30,000 to 50,000 people was encountered trying to get across the southern border unlawfully every month.

“[Customs and Border Protection] continues to see a large influx of illegal migration along the Southwest Border,” CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement issued Tuesday evening.

The Biden administration insists the southern border is not in a state of crisis despite its having opened more than a dozen emergency shelters nationwide to house more than 20,000 children who showed up without parents.

The number of children who came across without a parent or guardian in April was 17,171, according to federal agency data released late Tuesday. It is the second-highest amount in the Border Patrol’s 96-year history and down from 18,960 in March. The previous record of 11,861 was set in May 2019.

The Biden administration in late January opted not to continue turning away unaccompanied children, as had been the Trump administration’s policy for adults, families, and children since March 2020 in an effort to avoid filling government holding facilities with people during the pandemic. As a result, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border has surged from 5,700 in January.

The number of families crossing the border illegally continued to surge in April, mainly from Central American countries. Border Patrol agents took custody of 50,016 people who arrived as part of a family group last month, down slightly from 54,125 in March. However, the more than 50,000 members of families seen in April was 12 times more than in last April.

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Approximately 100,000 single adults were encountered in April, and an unspecified number attempted to get in but were caught multiple times in the same month.

Nearly 110,000 people were returned to Mexico or their home country, while 63,000 migrant families and children were allowed into the U.S. and likely released from custody, federal data shows. As compared to 2000 and 2006, when large numbers of adults were seen at the border, families and children were not present. The difference in demographics has complicated the U.S. government’s response, especially as the Biden administration tried not to hold and detain families and children in jail-like Border Patrol stations.

Biden has yet to visit the southern border since moving into the White House and has been focused on economic recovery and infrastructure as the government rolls out coronavirus vaccines nationwide. More than 3 in 4 registered voters polled recently thought Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris ought to visit the border immediately.

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