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 at or 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 8,500 migrants at the border in February as the end of the month nears, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. Two other sources said the monthly total would be at or near a record low.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, took an array of actions to deter illegal immigration after returning to the White House on January 20, saying a crackdown was 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.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration over the ban earlier this month, arguing it violated U.S. asylum law and international treaties.
The Trump administration also struck new agreements with Mexico and Central American countries to accept U.S. deportees from other nations and has sent some migrants to a camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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.
While the number of border arrests similarly dipped at the start of Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency – what some called “the Trump effect” – they rebounded in some months and years that followed.
The February projection would be a steep drop from the 141,000 migrant arrests in February 2024 and down from 29,000 in January, according to U.S. government figures.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Sandra Maler)
