Mexican families apprehended at the border almost triple

As the huge influx of migrants across the US-Mexico border continues, whole families from Mexico are trying their luck at starting a new life in the US.

As the Biden administration’s messaging about who is allowed into the country on humanitarian parole and who will be turned away remains unclear, there has been an explosion of Mexican families apprehended at the border.

More than 10,000 people apprehended crossing illegally in July were travelling as families from Mexico, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics.

Migrant families now account for the largest demographic group crossing the border in August, surpassing single adults for the first time since President Biden took office in 2020, according to the Washington Post.  

Over 115,000 Mexican families have been encountered by US Border Patrol so far in the financial year 2023 which ends this month, almost triple last fiscal year’s count of around 40,000, CBP said.

The unprecedent jump is likely due to soft border policies by the Biden administration, which has agreed to let up to 43,500 migrants a month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba into the country.

In practice, The Post has found many Mexicans also being admitted the same way and thousands more people making it into the country. In one case border floodgates in Arizona were left wide open and people just walked in.

Former Army Captain and Blackwater Contractor, Morgan Lerette, said the influx comes down to simple risk and reward.

“The primary driver is a desire for a better life. The US has always had this for migrants,” he told The Post on Tuesday.

“The risk-reward paradigm has shifted with the open border. No fear of deportation and free social benefits tips the scale. If I were a migrant, I’d take the chance.”

In addition, the creation of the CBP One app – described as a “Disney fast pass” for migrants by Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz – has contributed to the border influx, experts told Axios.

“When you open legal pathways, folks will take them,” Cris Ramon, a senior policy advisor at We Are Unidos, told the outlet.

The majority of CBP One applicants are released on parole and able to get a work permit within six weeks. They can also stay in the US legally for at least two years while they wait for an asylum hearing.

Coleen Putzel-Kavanaugh told Axios the majority of asylum seekers are giving a notice to appear in court and then released into the country.

In addition, cartel violence and fluctuating economic conditions during the pandemic have pushed many Mexicans away from their own country to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

“We have seen in general, across the board, is that once migratory flows get established, it is difficult to impact them,” a Homeland Security official told Axios.

“Processing families at the border has been a fraught issue for a number of years, going back multiple administrations under both parties,” they continued. “We’re just not going to have a lasting solution here that doesn’t involve Congress.”