Larger groups seen crossing border as overall arrests drop

Central Americans are increasingly entering the United States illegally in groups of at least 100 people in rugged, remote stretches of the Mexican border, authorities said Friday upon releasing January figures that show total arrests fell for a second straight month.

A group of 325 Central Americans surrendered to agents Thursday near Lukeville, according to Customs and Border Protection.

The group entered into the country in an area where there are vehicle barriers intended to prevent crossings.

Members of the group told officials that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout Wednesday night on Mexico’s Highway 2, which is close to the U.S. border. The group said they crossed together at 8 a.m. to await U.S. authorities, according to the news release.

The group included 150 children, of which 32 were unaccompanied. Two of the children, a 5-year-old who may have chickenpox and a 12-year-old with a skin infection, were transported to a hospital.

The Border Patrol has encountered groups of at least 100 people 60 times since Oct. 1, compared to 13 during the entire 2018 fiscal year and two in the 2017 fiscal year, officials said. Many are in the desolate New Mexico Bootheel and Arizona deserts

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It is unclear what’s driving the sudden uptick of large groups in remote areas but families, many of them Central American asylum seekers, make up a large and growing percentage of arrests across the border.

U.S. authorities arrested or stopped people for immigration violations 58,207 times in January, down 4 percent from 60,779 in December but up 62 percent from 35,905 in January 2018. It was the second straight monthly decline, though arrests typically fall from December to January.

Families and children traveling alone accounted for 33,861 of those encounters, or nearly 6 of every 10 stopped at official crossings or arrested for entering the country illegally between crossings, mostly from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. That’s a dramatic change from several years ago when most people who crossed illegally were single Mexican adults.

The January numbers are unlikely to swing public opinion either way in President Trump’s showdown with Democratic leaders in Congress over funding to replace and extend border walls with Mexico. The impasse led to a five-week partial government shutdown that ended when Trump agreed to reopen the government until Feb. 15.

The large percentage of families and young children has stretched U.S. authorities, even more in remote areas where staffing is thinner. Customs and Border Protection says medical attention was needed about 12,000 times for border crossers in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30.

On Jan. 14, a group of 376 Central Americans was arrested near San Luis, Arizona, the vast majority of them Guatemalan families who dug short, shallow holes under a barrier to cross the border, according to authorities.