U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 92,000 immigrants trying to cross the border illegally in March, a 12-year high announced Tuesday as President Trump moved to replace top leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and vowed tougher immigration policies. In March, 92,607 immigrants were apprehended at the border – the highest monthly total since April 2007, when 104,465 immigrants were stopped, reports USA Today.
Of those apprehended in March, 30,555 were single adults, 8,975 were unaccompanied children and 53,077 were family units, primarily from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The number of family units apprehended is an all-time high. “The Border Patrol is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis,” said Brian Hastings, the Border Patrol’s chief of law enforcement operations. The 92,607 apprehensions in March are a 35 percent increase over February. Despite the jump, the overall number of illegal border crossings remains lower than in the 1990s and 2000s, when Border Patrol agents routinely apprehended more than 100,000 people a month and topped 200,000 apprehensions during two months in 2000.