By Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in February is on pace to be near a record monthly low, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson and two other sources told Reuters.
U.S. Border Patrol is on pace to have arrested around 11,000 migrants at the border in February with less than two days left in the month, the sources told Reuters. The agency has arrested a daily average of about 400 people per day over the last three weeks, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and a source said.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, took an array of actions to deter illegal immigration after returning to the White House on January 20, saying the actions were needed after high levels of migration under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Trump’s moves included implementing a sweeping ban on asylum at the border and surging military troops to assist border security.
U.S. Border Patrol’s monthly enforcement statistics go back to 2000. The lowest monthly total on record is currently April 2017, when the agency arrested 11,127 at the start of Trump’s first term.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
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