NewsUS Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced Wednesday that it had apprehended 1,036 individuals immediately after they illegally crossed the Rio Grande river into El Paso, Texas.
CBP described the group as the largest ever to be encountered by border patrol agents. The members of the group—all from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador—included 934 family members, 63 unaccompanied minors and 39 single adults.
The El Paso sector has seen similar surges in border crossings this year with smaller groups adding up to more than 2,200 people apprehended over Memorial Day weekend. To handle this influx of migrants, CBP has erected temporary housing structures near El Paso were the migrants will be detained until they can be processed.
According to CBP Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez, “[t]he apprehension of 1,036 individuals in a single group … demonstrates the severity of the border security and humanitarian crisis at our Southwest border.”
The border crossing occurred just before President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would be placing a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico in order to curb illegal immigration.
