WASHINGTON, April 10 (NNN-Xinhua) — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Tuesday it turned away or apprehended more than 103,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border in March, the highest in the past six years.
The total number of apprehensions and rejections was 103,492, representing a nearly 106 percent rise compared with the same period last year, the CBP said in a press release.
The CBP said it apprehended 92,607 individuals, 53,077 of which are family units, 30,555 are single adults, and 8,975 are unaccompanied children. The number of apprehensions was the highest monthly total since fiscal year 2007, it said.
“We are currently experiencing a system-wide emergency in our processing and holding facilities,” CBP Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez said.
U.S. President Donald Trump seized on the opportunity to forward his tough immigration stance, calling on the Democratic party in a tweet to “end the loopholes on immigration.”
Immigration has been the center of the a political battle between Trump and Democrats since the beginning of this administration. Trump vowed to impose stricter rules against illegal immigrants entering the United States but was opposed by the Democratic Party.
Over the course of his tenure, Trump has pushed for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and threatened to close down the border and abolish birthright citizenship.
The White House in the past few days shook up the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security in a bid to step up the effort to curb the influx of illegal immigrants. — NNN-XINHUA
