Migrant Family Apprehensions at Border Down 92% in Feb from May 2019 Peak

The apprehension of migrant families illegally crossing the border in February fell by 92 percent from the peak of the 2019 humanitarian and border security crisis in May. Under programs put in place by the Trump Administration last year, the release of migrants into the U.S. is also down 87 percent, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters that the apprehension of migrants crossing the border illegally from Mexico fell for the ninth straight month in February. He said the apprehension of migrant families, mostly from Central America, fell by 92 percent from the peak of the border crisis in May 2019. Agents apprehended only 4,610 migrant families in February. In May 2019, that number was 84,486, according to the Southwest Border Migration Report released on Thursday.

Morgan said what was driving the majority of the crisis was families from Central America. “Back in May, 61 percent of those we were encountering were families, the majority of those from the Northern Triangle countries,” the commissioner said. “Because, again, they (transnational criminal organizations — TCOs) knew our system was broken. If you came to the U.S. with a kid you were going to be released into the interior of the U.S.”

The commissioner said that has now changed and there has been an 87 percent reduction in the number of migrants released in the U.S.

Morgan said there was a 14 percent drop in the apprehension of migrant families from January to February, an 83 percent drop from the February 2019 numbers, and a 92 percent drop from the peak in May 2019.

“So, the major goal that we set out to do with the President’s strategy with respect to this was to decrease the flow of families from the northern triangle countries,” Morgan explained. “We have succeeded nine months in a row those numbers, families from Northern triangles have gone down and continue to go down.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook or contact him at BPrice@Breitbart.com.