The number of large groups, consisting of 100 or more people, is from 10 groups in the fiscal year 2020 when the border crossing dropped sharply at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Customs and Border Protection data. But the number of large groups has decreased compared to 2019 during the migration border congestion. The data is for the fiscal year, which begins in October, meaning some of the major groups may have arrived during the Trump administration.
Border patrol officers this week sounded the alarm about the increase in migrating children and families crossing into the U.S. illegally. The Biden administration has been struggling for weeks to move children out of the border facilities within the required legal time limits, which puts resources under pressure and causes children to languish in busy traffic.
‘No end in sight’, Brian Hastings, Chief Patrol Agent in Rio Grande Valley
tweeted Wednesday, “while large groups continue to enter.”
However, the number of groups is far below the 213 large groups encountered in the fiscal year 2019 during the migratory boom driven primarily by families from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
This is also about half the number of large groups compared to a similar time frame in 2019, when 70 large groups were arrested.
At the time, the then Minister of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said that the ongoing border crisis’ put many minors and families at risk of being exploited by traders, human traffickers, gangs and other rogue actors who want to make a profit at their expense.
These large groups often include children and families, who usually turn themselves into border authorities and do not try to be deprived.
The latest data shows the pressure that officials face at the border and comes as the government shows public relations to explain its efforts.
The White House has been holding several newsletters this week about the border situation, and Home Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was on CBS “This Morning” and told migrants not to come to the border.
He stressed that a “border patrol station is no place for a child” and said DHS is working with the Department of Health and Human Services to get them moving quickly.
EXPLANATION: This heading has been updated to explain that data on meetings with large groups come from this financial year.
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