MADRID, 19 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
US officials have processed 132,652 illegal migrants along the border with Mexico in July, up 33 percent from the previous two-year low month, and despite record heat levels.
The largest increase in illegal crossings has occurred in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, with 40,000 apprehensions, a vast and remote region that covers most of the Arizona-Mexico border and parts of the Sonoran desert, where temperatures reached 43 degrees every day this summer, as reported by CBS with official government statistics.
The demographic group that has grown the most, doubling June data, has been families traveling with children, which poses significant operational challenges for officials due to legal limits on the detention of minors. The number of unaccompanied children has grown by almost 50 percent and in the case of single adults a similar figure has been maintained.
In a briefing with journalists this Friday, a Customs and Border Protection official explained that the increase in crossings along the Arizona border with Mexico is being driven by smugglers and has described the influx in the sector of Tucson as “particularly challenging” and “concerning” as there has been an increase in the number of migrants at risk.
“We’ve seen attempts by human smugglers to steer migrants towards that, and announce to people that it’s somehow an area where they can expect greater success when crossing into the country,” the official said. which added that “that’s not true.”
Although migrant crossings have grown in July, they have not returned to the record levels seen in some months of 2022, when monthly Border Patrol apprehensions peaked at 220,000.
