Border Patrol arrests at highest level ever: report

by Sarakshi Rai - 10/20/21 7:59 AM ET

Arrests by the Border Patrol are at their highest levels ever, The Washington Post reported early Wednesday, citing unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

The data also reportedly show that authorities detained more than 1.7 million migrants along the border during the fiscal year that ended last month.

Migrants from outside Mexico and Central America, including Haitians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorans, Cubans, Brazilians and migrants from dozens of other nations that the CBP categorized as “other,” accounted for 367,000 arrests, according to the Post.

Approximately 309,000 migrants from Honduras were also detained, along with 279,000 from Guatemala and 96,000 from El Salvador.

The Biden administration has increasingly relied on Mexican authorities to stem the flow of migrants headed northward to the U.S. border. But Mexico remained the single largest source of illegal migration during the latest fiscal year, according to the Post, with the Border Patrol arresting more than 608,000 Mexican nationals.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier this year that the Border Patrol was likely to see a 20-year high in border crossings.

In August, Mayorkas described the situation as “one of the toughest challenges” the country faces.

“It is complicated, changing and involves vulnerable people at a time of a global pandemic,” he said at the time, the BBC reported.

The number of migrants detained at the US-Mexico border in July crossed 200,000 for the first time in 21 years, government data also showed.

The latest developments come as the Biden administration continues to face pressure over the surge in migrants.

An AP-NORC poll in October found that 35 percent of respondents approved of Biden’s handling of immigration, down from 43 percent in April, when it was already one of his administration’s worst-polling issues.

Despite the soaring number of migrants detained at the border this spring, President Biden said in a press conference in April that the flood of migrants in recent months was consistent with patterns that occur “every single, solitary year” in the winter months.

Customs and Border Patrol did not immediately get back to The Hill’s request for comment on the Post’s report.

–Updated at 10:53 a.m.

Tags Alejandro Mayorkas border surge Immigration Joe Biden Mexico–United States border