WASHINGTON – The arrests of undocumented migrants on the border with Mexico broke a record last April when it reached 98,977 arrests, the most in the last six months, according to data released today by the US Customs and Border Protection Office. CBP, in English).
With the arrests in April, the number of migrant arrests on the border since the beginning of this fiscal year 2019, which began last October, has risen to 460,294.
In its Twitter account, CBP stressed that as of this fiscal year 2019, the total number of arrests at the border since 2009 has been exceeded.
“CBP is experiencing an unprecedented and unsustainable situation on the Southwest border,” the Border Patrol tweeted.
Of those arrested in April, a total of 8,897 were unaccompanied minors and another 58,474 members of family groups.
Just as the number of members of the same family increased last month compared to March, when the authorities detained 53,205 individuals; minors who arrived alone at the border in April have decreased slightly compared to the previous month, when there were 8,973 arrests of children and adolescents traveling without adults.
The CBP added, on the other hand, that a total of 10,167 people who showed up at the official ports of entry from Mexico were rejected by the authorities compared to 10,888 in March and 9,651 last February.
Throughout fiscal year 2018, which lasted from October 2017 to September 2018, the country denied entry to a total of 124,511 migrants at the official border crossing points on the Mexican border.
The president, Donald Trump, maintains that there is a crisis on the border with the neighboring country, where he affirms that there is “an invasion” and has promoted measures to prevent the arrival of undocumented immigrants.
In a presidential proclamation, he announced Wednesday that the government will appeal the ruling of a California court that prevents him from denying asylum to migrants who have entered illegally from Mexico.
In the document, released by the White House, it is explained that the Executive is going to appeal the injunction of a federal court of the Northern District of California that blocks the presidential order issued by Trump in November, which implied that the undocumented have no option of ask for asylum
The same day that Trump signed the proclamation, on November 9, a federal judge blocked it.
In his proclamation today, the president said that the situation on the border has continued to deteriorate since November, when some 2,000 “inadmissible” migrants tried to enter.
On February 15, Trump declared a national emergency due to the refusal of Congress to approve funds for his promised wall on the border with Mexico, which allows him to divert funds from other budget items for this project.
Before a resolution passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives that urged the president to end the emergency, Trump appealed on March 15 to his veto power, the first of his term.
In recent weeks there has been a restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, in English) – responsible for managing immigration – after the departure of several senior officials, including its owner, Kirstjen Nielsen, which Trump had criticized for his management of the crisis on the border.
The one that had been until the departure of Nielsen commissioner of CBP, Kevin McAleenan, was appointed by the Government as interim holder of DHS, while his vacancy in front of the Border Patrol has been occupied by John Sanders.
DHS has recently announced that it will launch a pilot program this month to conduct DNA tests on migrants at the border in order to identify those posing as members of the same family, according to local media.
The DNA tests will be carried out during two or three days at two border locations.
Precisely this Tuesday was the first anniversary of the application of the policy of “zero tolerance” towards irregular immigration by the Administration, which affected thousands of immigrants, mainly Central Americans, for family separation. (EFEUSA)
