U.S. border officials report an unsustainable surge in migrant family detentions

On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 97 percent uptick in arrests at the southern border since last year, fueled by a 300 percent increase in migrants detained while traveling with children or families. During the five-month period that ended in February, Border Patrol agents arrested about 280,000 migrants entering the country without authorization, creating what CBP chief Kevin McAleenan called "a border security and a humanitarian crisis." The immigration system "is well beyond capacity, and remains at the breaking point," he added, and the solutions CBP has enacted — including more medical screenings and new facilities to hold families — "are temporary and this situation is not sustainable."

The total number of arrests is significantly lower than in past decades, but the changing demographics of the migrants — families from Central America rather than single men from Mexico — has put a strain on border agencies and migrant-oriented nonprofits. CBP released the data as Trump is taking extraordinary and controversial steps to build a border wall, and before a Senate vote on terminating his declared national emergency at the border. But the vast majority of migrants turn themselves in to border agents, and "a wall would do little to slow migration," The New York Times reports, citing immigration analysts.