Illegal crossings along the southern border have reached levels not seen in several months, straining government resources and burdening some local communities where large numbers of migrants are out of federal custody released.
There were more than 8,000 arrests Monday, according to Brandon Judd, the head of the union representing Border Patrol agents. Such high numbers have not been seen since a surge in early May brought daily numbers to almost 10,000, and they are much higher than in mid-April, when there were around 4,900 illegal crossings per day.
The effects of the rising numbers are reaching across the country, as communities along the border and others far away scramble to support migrants released from federal custody.
“Right now we’re seeing a surge,” said Ruben Garcia, who oversees a network of shelters in El Paso, across the border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. “We are seeing a significant increase in the number of people crossing.”
The recent influx of unlawful border crossings could pose challenges to President Biden, whose administration has tried to keep the southern border from fueling Republican narratives on immigration policy, especially before the 2024 presidential election.
During President Biden’s term, illegal crossings have reached notable highs, exceeding levels seen during a pre-pandemic influx in 2019 during the Trump administration. But the number of crossings at the southern border fell sharply for about six weeks in May and June, after the end of a public health measure put in place during the pandemic. The rule, known as Title 42, resulted in the rapid expulsion of migrants who crossed the border illegally, even as they sought asylum.
Officials had expected a spike in illegal crossings after Title 42 ended, but the increase came days before, reaching about 9,500 per day the week before Title 42 ended.
The relative peace that followed did not last.
“I never believed that the decline in illegal border crossings would continue, because there were already tens of thousands of people in northern Mexico and many more behind them coming up through the Darién Gap,” said Theresa Cardinal Brown, senior advisor for immigration and border policy. at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Last year, a record number of nearly 250,000 people crossed the Darién Gap, a jungle spanning Colombia and Panama, in an attempt to reach the United States. This year, despite efforts by the United States to curb the flow, that number rose to 360,000 as of September 10, according to Panamanian authorities.
The government said the decline in illegal crossings in May and June was driven by new enforcement measures and new legal routes for people to come to the United States.
Officials attribute the recent influx to several factors, including the long wait associated with Biden’s new administration and the disinformation spread by Mexico’s drug-trafficking and migrant-smuggling cartels.
Customs and Border Protection, which tracks border crossings, has not confirmed the recent figures; information that is usually made public approximately three weeks after its compilation.
In a statement, a CBP spokeswoman, Erin Waters, said the agency expected “fluctuations” and was “working to decompress areas along the southwest border.”
She said those taken into custody would be placed in immigration enforcement proceedings and anyone without a legal basis to remain would be removed.
Starting in July, many people, including families, waiting for an appointment at the port of entry or through a humanitarian parole program decided to take their chances and cross the border illegally, say people who work with asylum seekers and in migrant shelters. Even as federal officials signal consequences for illegal crossings, migrants who are allowed to stay in the country temporarily often tell family and friends back home that they have successfully reached the U.S. Such messages can prompt other migrants to make an often dangerous journey to the United States.
This influx has strained the capacity of many border facilities where migrants are held for Border Patrol processing. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, where many single people are sent, are running out of beds. When shelters cannot house migrants, authorities begin releasing them into communities.
“The Border Patrol is essentially releasing people while they process them to decompress their facilities,” said Diego Piña Lopez, director of the Casa Alitas shelter network in Tucson. “It leads to street statements everywhere.”
In southern Arizona, mayors and local officials said this past week that after processing dozens of migrants, border officials released them in small border towns and dropped them off at a Catholic church in Douglas or a supermarket in Bisbee without any resources.
“Yesterday we had 32 dumped at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and there were no buses running,” Bisbee Mayor Ken Budge said.
Casa Alitas, which operates five shelters in the Tucson area, is housing 1,500 people each night, up from 800 two weeks ago.
In San Diego, border officials have been dropping off hundreds of migrants a day at transit hubs as the area’s migrant shelters reached capacity. Volunteers have tried to provide basic needs, including food, water and assistance with onward travel, but shelter space is also limited elsewhere.
“The situation is not sustainable for the community organizations trying to meet the humanitarian needs of migrants in these border areas,” said Pedro Rios, director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Program for the American Friends Service Committee.
In El Paso, a cargo bridge between Mexico and the United States has been closed for several days as customs personnel were diverted to assist Border Patrol agents processing apprehended migrants.
On September 18, agents in the El Paso sector encountered 1,609 migrants, according to official data obtained by The Times, compared to 1,158 on September 7 and 761 on June 9.
After crossing U.S. territory, most migrants turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents with plans to seek asylum, rather than sneaking into the country and trying to evade detection.
Jack Healey in Phoenix, Reyes Mata, III, in El Paso, and Julie Turkewitz in Bogota contributed to the reporting.
