OAN’s James Meyers
3:05 PM – Friday, September 1, 2023
Illegal migrant crossings at the United States-Mexico border have hit an all-time high in the month of August.
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According to data obtained by the Washington Post, U.S. Border Patrol officials have arrested over 91,000 migrants in August, who crossed the border as part of family groups.
This passes the previous one-month record of 84,486 migrant families arrested for crossing the border in May 2019.
The data obtained also showed that migrant families accounted for the largest demographic group crossing for August, which exceeded the single adults demographic for the first time since President Joe Biden took office in 2020.
The crossings in August set another record, with the number of “family member units” surrendering at the border, eclipsing over half a million people over the fiscal year.
This comes after the New York Post revealed that U.S. officials welded open 114 massive gates along the Arizona border, due to the annual monsoon season, which runs from between June to September.
Erin Heeter, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, blamed the increase of crossings on “ebbs and flows of migrants arriving, fueled by seasonal trends and efforts of smugglers to prey on vulnerable migrants and encourage migration.”
Additionally, the data showed that 54,000 migrants were processed in August at the southern border, where the Biden Administration allows up to 1,450 migrants each day to schedule appointments to enter the U.S. using a mobile app.
Border arrests have also shown a 30% increase from July to August.
One program established by the Biden Administration allows almost 30,000 applicants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti who receive authorization to work in the U.S. for two years if they clear background checks and have a financial sponsor.
According to CBS News, since the program “parole” was established two years ago, illegal migrant crossings have begun to decrease as it’s estimated 541,000 migrants entered the U.S. under the program.
In May, the Biden Administration unveiled the Family Expedited Removal Management Program, which allows heads of households to be put under GPS monitoring and into the fast-track deportation system.
However, immigration court is currently backlogged with over 2.5 million cases of migrant claims waiting to be heard, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
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By: OAN
