WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of migrant families crossing the southwest border is again breaking records,
and the crush is overwhelming border agents and straining facilities, officials said Tuesday.
More than 76,000 migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last month, more than double the number from the
same period last year. Most were families coming in ever-increasingly large groups — there were 70
groups of more than 100 people in the past few months, and they cross illegally in extremely rural
locations with few agents and staff. There were only 13 large groups during the previous budget year,
and only two the year before.
The system "is well beyond capacity, and remains at the breaking point," U.S. Customs and
Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said a press conference Tuesday.
The new figures reflect the difficulties President Donald Trump has faced as he tries to cut down on
illegal immigration, his signature issue. But it could also help him make the case that there truly is a
national emergency at the border — albeit one built around humanitarian crises and not necessarily
border security. The Senate is expected to vote next week and join the House in rejecting his national
emergency declaration aimed at building border walls, but Trump would almost certainly veto the measure
and the issue is likely to be settled in the courts.
After the deaths of two migrant children in Border Patrol custody, Customs and Border Protection stepped
up medical screenings. They also announced sweeping changes including more rigorous interviews as
migrants come into the system.
And McAleenan said a new processing center would be built in El Paso, Texas, that will be better suited
to manage families and children and handle medical care concerns — but it’s not a permanent solution.

"While our enhanced medical efforts will assist in managing the increased flows, the fact is that
these solutions are temporary and this solution is not sustainable," he said.
While fewer people overall are being apprehended crossing the border illegally each year — about 400,000
over the last budget year compared with the high of 1.6 million in 2000, the increasing numbers are
alarming, officials said.
Those apprehended used to be mostly single men from Mexico, but are now mostly families from Central
America — since October, more than 130,000 families have been apprehended between ports of entry. From
October through September 2018, about the same number of families was apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico
border. Tens of thousands of children illegally cross the border alone. While single men used to evade
capture, the families are seeking out agents.
Customs and Border Protection also reported using firearms less and less. There were 15 instances where
officers and agents used firearms during the budget year 2018, down from a high of 55 reported during
the 2012 budget year, and down from 17 during 2017’s budget year and 25 the year before.
Despite high-profile instances in recent months where agents used tear gas on groups of migrants that
included children, use of less-lethal force like tear gas, batons or stun guns are also down, to 898.
That’s a decrease from the high in 2013 of 1,168, according to the data.
Border officials said the large families groups are creating opportunities for smugglers because
attention is diverted to the large groups. Border officials say they worry they’re spending too much
time on migrant care and not enough on security.
During 2018’s fiscal year, border agents and officers seized more than 1.7 pounds of narcotics, including
1.1 million pounds of marijuana, 282,570 pounds of cocaine, 6,552 pounds of heroin and 2,463 pounds of
fentanyl, mostly through ports of entry, according to the border security report from budget year 2018,
released Tuesday. Fentanyl seizures were up nearly 70 percent from the last budget year.
Complaints of excessive force prompted the border enforcement agency to commission an audit and
investigation by the Police Executive Research Forum, a research and policy group. The 2013 audit
highlighted problems that included foot-patrol agents without access to less-lethal options, and it
recommended law enforcement not be allowed to use deadly force when people throw rocks — a suggestion
that was rejected.
Following those reviews, major training and policy changes were made. Border Patrol agents now undergo
scenario-based drills at the academy and learn how to de-escalate tense situations. They get 64 hours of
on-the-job training on use of force. Agents and officers are authorized to use deadly force when there
is reasonable belief in an imminent danger of serious physical injury or death to the officer or another
person.
They have discretion on how to deploy less-than-lethal force: It must be both "objectively
reasonable and necessary in order to carry out law enforcement duties" — and used when other
"empty hand" techniques are not sufficient to control disorderly or violent subjects.
Officials say they deploy the lowest form of force necessary to take control of a situation, but
instances a few months ago where tear gas was used on migrants that included children drew strong
criticism.
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The story corrects month to October, not January, on apprehensions between ports of entry.