Memorial Day ‘busiest recent day’ for Border Patrol apprehensions in El Paso

Monday was the “busiest recent day of enforcement activity” for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the El Paso sector, with more than 2,200 migrants apprehended in one day, according to a statement from the agency.

The sector was “busier than ever” on Memorial Day, according to CBP, as migrants came in two large groups and multiple smaller ones.

{mosads}At 2 a.m., a group of nearly 200 people was apprehended near the Antelope Wells Port of Entry. And at 7 a.m., a group of more than 430 people crossed the border west of an area high school, “one of the largest in El Paso Sector thus far,” CBP reported.

“While many residents of El Paso, west Texas and New Mexico were commemorating the men and women who died in military service for the United States, area Border Patrol Agents were busier than ever taking into custody more than 2,200 illegal aliens who entered the country illegally,” CBP said in a news release Tuesday. 

The groups were mostly Central American families and unaccompanied children, according to CBP. They were all taken into custody for processing and medical screenings. The groups will remain in custody “until they are processed accordingly.”  

The crossings are part of a growing trend of migrants crossing the border in CBP’s El Paso sector. During this fiscal year, agents in the area have arrested over 130,000 migrants. Last year, agents arrested 16,000 migrants during the same time period.

Between October 2018 and April 30, CBP apprehended 460,294 people at the southern border, according to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost’s Senate testimony on May 8.

“The men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol will continue to uphold the oath they made to this county by apprehending all of those who attempt to enter our country illegally,” CBP said.