U.S. Border Patrol Reports Another Surge of Arrests at Southern Border

By Louise Radnofsky

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 98,977 people crossing the southern border without authorization in April, the Trump administration said Wednesday.

Department of Homeland Security officials said 58,474 people were traveling in families, 31,606 were single adults and 8,897 were unaccompanied children.

Another 10,167 people were deemed inadmissible after presenting themselves at a port of entry, bringing the total number of encounters to 109,144. The April figure brings the total of people apprehended past 460,000 for the year ending Sept. 30.

The presence of children, many coming with parents from Central America and seeking asylum rather than trying to evade capture, has strained the border infrastructure, administration officials said. Families have been restricted from claiming asylum at ports of entry, due to high volume, and so are instead seeking to cross at increasingly remote locations between ports and then turn themselves in once they are in the U.S.

“What makes these numbers so dramatically different than anything we’ve ever faced in the history of Border Patrol is the demographic,” a DHS official said.

Some critics of the administration’s immigration stance agree that there is a surge of families at the southern border, though they point to times in the past when the total number of arrivals has been higher, and the number of agents to respond lower. These critics disagree with the administration primarily over policies to respond.

The White House is moving to make it harder for people to lodge an initial asylum claim, including ordering new rules that would charge fees, and deny asylum seekers work authorization while they wait for their claims to be adjudicated. It has previously tried—and then halted—deterrent measures, including its so-called zero tolerance policy of prosecuting adults for illegal entry and separating them from their children in the process.

The administration is also seeking $3.3 billion to feed and shelter families when they arrive, process their initial asylum claims and provide transportation for them to leave Border Patrol custody. It wants another $1.1 billion for operations support at the border, including detention beds and investigative resources to counter human smuggling.

Democrats have vowed to oppose any additional funding for detention; they and immigrant advocates have criticized the other proposals as inhumane and contrary to American values. They are typically more favorable to allowing families together to enter the U.S. and await the final determination of their asylum claims.

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