Immigration officials tell Congress they are 'overwhelmed' as apprehensions spike at U.S.-Mexico border

2019-05-08
Source: WashingtonGuardian
by: Tom Benning

In April, #BorderPatrol apprehended an average of over 2,400 families and children EACH DAY and ICE & HHS lack the capacity to keep up. Because of these capacity issues, #USBP has had to directly release more than 33,000 people since March 19.
— USBPChief (@USBPChief) May 8, 2019

WASHINGTON — Top U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Wednesday told Congress that they are "overwhelmed" amid a continued surge of Central American migrants seeking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The number of migrants apprehended by U.S. authorities along the southwestern border topped 100,000 for the second month in a row, officials said.

April's tally of 109,144 apprehended border-crossers — many of them families and children — is the highest monthly total since 2007, and it means apprehensions so far this fiscal year have already outpaced the full-year totals for each fiscal year since 2009, officials said.

"Our apprehension numbers are off the charts as compared to recent years," said U.S. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost, whose agency is part of Customs and Border Protection. "It's like holding a bucket under a faucet. It doesn't matter how many buckets you give me if we can't turn off the flow."

Source: Dallas News

Carla L. Provost, Chief, United States Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection testifies at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is licensed under Flickr Government Work

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