The number of children and teenagers crossing the southern border alone hit an all-time monthly high in March as overall border crossings skyrocketed.
The figures underscore the immense enforcement, humanitarian and political challenge facing the Biden administration at the southwest border.
Nearly 19,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended by border agents last month, according to statistics released Thursday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The figure is double that of February.
The number of migrant families crossing the border also ballooned dramatically. More than 53,600 families were apprehended by border agents, an astonishing 175% increase from February – making families the fast-growing group of migrants attempting to cross the border.
Apprehensions overall vaulted to 172,331 – the highest level in two decades. The majority of apprehensions were of single adults who were immediately expelled at the border under a Title 42 public health order implemented by the former Trump administration and maintained by President Joe Biden.
Of the more than 100,000 migrants who were immediately expelled last month, 28% had been previously turned back at the border under the Title 42 order, according to CBP. The order has dramatically increased recidivism and the overall number of apprehensions represents the total number of encounters, and not necessarily the number of individual migrants who attempted to cross. The unprecedented use of the order makes it difficult to accurately compare apprehension totals to previous years – though March’s figure nonetheless represents a significant increase in crossings.
The Biden administration is facing increasing pressure from all sides over the situation at the border. Republicans have dubbed the moment the “Biden border crisis” and Democrats have hammered the administration’s treatment of migrant minors.
While Biden kept in place the Title 42 expulsion order for single adults and families, he announced early in his presidency that the government would stop expelling migrant children who cross the border alone.
The influx of unaccompanied minors overwhelmed border facilities and has sent the Biden administration screaming to stand up temporary processing sites and shelters.
Unaccompanied migrant children are by law not supposed to be held in border detention facilities for more than three days before being transferred to shelters run through the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. Border facilities are currently over capacity several times over, and migrant children are in some cases being held there for far longer than the law allows.
Over 20,000 migrant children are currently in government care, according to the latest figures from HHS.
The government has made slow but steady progress in the last several days in transferring more migrant children out of CBP custody than CBP has taken in.
The administration is also struggling to handle the rapid increase in migrant families. Families technically still fall under the Title 42 order, but Mexico had refused to accept many migrant families.
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Biden and his administration have pleaded patience as they say they attempt to rebuild systems dismantled by the Trump administration. Officials also note that the increase in migration began under Trump – though it has spiked since Biden took office.
“CBP has experienced an increase in encounters and arrests. This is not new. Encounters have continued to increase since April 2020, and our past experiences have helped us be better prepared for the challenges we face this year,” CBP head Troy Miller said in a statement. “We are committed to balancing the need to maintain border security, care for those in our custody, and keep the American people and our workforce safe.”
Experts agree that a number of factors are contributing to the immigration surge, including policy actions, natural disasters and political events in Central America, seasonal fluctuations, and long-standing “push” factors including poverty and violence. Seeking asylum is a legal process and migration spikes tend to occur every few years.