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ICE: Border Arrest Numbers Down

4 years 3 months 2 weeks ago Friday, December 13 2019 Dec 13, 2019 December 13, 2019 6:46 AM December 13, 2019 in News - Local

DONNA - The surge of migrants along the border forced Border Patrol to re-direct their forces; that change led to decreases in arrests.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they arrested fewer people during the 2019 budget year.

Officials say several things including the surge of migrants at the border contributed to the drop.

In fiscal year 2019 enforcement and removal officers with ICE arrested about 143,000 people,13,000 less than last year.

They also deported more than 267 thousand people, most of those arrested were people with criminal records.

During a press conference in Dallas, Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said part of the reason for the decline was his officers had to be redirected to help with the surge at the border.

He also blamed sanctuary cities and a lack of cooperation from local law enforcement.

There was a drastic increase in the number of families crossing the border last year.

At least 473,000 family units, most from Central America, crossed into the U.S.

That's nearly three times the previous full year record for families.

During the surge, ICE officers were re-directed to help care for the families.

Border crossings have been on the decline due to policy changes by President Donald Trump and the deployment of the Mexican National Guard to their southern border.

The ‘Wait in Mexico’ program has sent more than 50,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait out their claims here in the U.S.

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