Larger groups seen crossing border as overall arrests drop
Feb 8, 2019
In this Jan. 16 file photo, Yuli Arias, left, stands near a newly-replaced section of the border wall as her mother, Esther Arias, center, stands in the family's house that was once threatened by construction along the border in Tijuana, Mexico.
SAN DIEGO — Central Americans are increasingly entering the United States illegally in groups of at least 100 people in rugged, remote stretches of the Mexican border, authorities said Friday upon releasing January figures that show total arrests fell for a second straight month.
A group of 325 Central Americans surrendered to agents Thursday near Lukeville, Arizona, according to Customs and Border Protection.
Migrants told authorities that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout the night on a nearby Mexican highway that runs parallel to the border and they entered the U.S. together to wait for agents to find them. There were nearly 150 children, including 32 who were traveling alone.
The Border Patrol has encountered groups of at least 100 people 60 times since Oct. 1, compared to 13 during the entire 2018 fiscal year and two in the 2017 fiscal year, officials said. Many are in the desolate New Mexico Bootheel and Arizona deserts.
It is unclear what's driving the sudden uptick of large groups in remote areas but families, many of them Central American asylum seekers, make up a large and growing percentage of arrests across the border.
U.S. authorities arrested or stopped people for immigration violations 58,207 times in January, down 4 percent from 60,779 in December but up 62 percent from 35,905 in January 2018. It was the second straight monthly decline, though arrests typically fall from December to January.
Families and children traveling alone accounted for 33,861 of those encounters, or nearly 6 of every 10 stopped at official crossings or arrested for entering the country illegally between crossings, mostly from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
That's a dramatic change from several years ago when most people who crossed illegally were single Mexican adults.
The January numbers are unlikely to swing public opinion either way in President Trump's showdown with Democratic leaders in Congress over funding to replace and extend border walls with Mexico. The impasse led to a five-week partial government shutdown that ended when Trump agreed to reopen the government until Feb. 15.
The large percentage of families and young children has stretched U.S. authorities, even more in remote areas where staffing is thinner.
Customs and Border Protection says medical attention was needed about 12,000 times for border crossers in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30.
On Jan. 14, a group of 376 Central Americans was arrested near San Luis, Arizona, the vast majority of them Guatemalan families who dug short, shallow holes under a barrier to cross the border, according to authorities.
https://lompocrecord.com/news/local/state-and...1cd79.html
Group of 325 Central Americans surrendered to BP agents west of Lukeville
Group of 325 Central Americans Apprehended Near Lukeville (Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations helicopter, investigating a possible campfire spotted by a surveillance camera, discovered the group amid freezing temperatures. The group had illegally entered the country through an area where there is only a vehicle barrier designed to prevent crossings.
Border fencing Lukeville.
Group members indicated that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout the night on Mexico’s Federal Highway 2 that parallels the U.S. border less than 50 yards from this area. Once the entire group arrived, they crossed together at 8 a.m. to await authorities.
The group consisted of individuals and family units from Central America and included nearly 150 juveniles, 32 of whom were unaccompanied.
For the next several hours, agents patrolling other areas were reassigned to provide security, care, and transportation for the group. Using vans and trucks, agents transported the group more than 15 miles through rugged desert terrain to a staging location where buses could transport the group to the nearest Border Patrol facility for processing.
Trained Department of Homeland Security medical staff, to include a physician, responded to screen the group. Two juveniles, a 5-year-old with possible chicken pox, and a 12-year-old with a skin infection, were sent to a local hospital for treatment while the remaining persons began immigration processing.
Year-to-date, Tucson Sector has messaged news releases of three groups totaling more than 650 apprehensions in this remote and unsecured location.
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/02/08/group...lukeville/
$324 million contract awarded to replace border fencing near Yuma and Lukeville
TUCSON — Customs and Border Protection officials announced Thursday they awarded a contract to replace 14 miles of pedestrian fencing along the border near Yuma, with construction expected to begin in April 2019.
That project is part of a wider plan to replace 32 miles of border fencing along southwestern Arizona, which has become a busy crossing point for migrant families and minors seeking asylum in the United States.
In a statement, CBP said the agency, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, awarded a $324 million contract to Barnard Construction Company of Bozeman, Montana.
The contract includes $172 million to install 14 miles of primary pedestrian fencing near Yuma.
Funding for this project will come from the $1.6 billion that Congress allocated in the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill for the construction of new and replacement border fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The primary pedestrian replacement wall in Arizona will improve each sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations," CBP said in a statement.
In addition to the replacement of 14 miles of pedestrian fencing in Yuma, the federal agency said it plans on replacing an additional 13 miles in other parts of the Yuma border, as well as five miles near Lukeville.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics...013752002/
Feb 8, 2019
In this Jan. 16 file photo, Yuli Arias, left, stands near a newly-replaced section of the border wall as her mother, Esther Arias, center, stands in the family's house that was once threatened by construction along the border in Tijuana, Mexico.
SAN DIEGO — Central Americans are increasingly entering the United States illegally in groups of at least 100 people in rugged, remote stretches of the Mexican border, authorities said Friday upon releasing January figures that show total arrests fell for a second straight month.
A group of 325 Central Americans surrendered to agents Thursday near Lukeville, Arizona, according to Customs and Border Protection.
Migrants told authorities that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout the night on a nearby Mexican highway that runs parallel to the border and they entered the U.S. together to wait for agents to find them. There were nearly 150 children, including 32 who were traveling alone.
The Border Patrol has encountered groups of at least 100 people 60 times since Oct. 1, compared to 13 during the entire 2018 fiscal year and two in the 2017 fiscal year, officials said. Many are in the desolate New Mexico Bootheel and Arizona deserts.
It is unclear what's driving the sudden uptick of large groups in remote areas but families, many of them Central American asylum seekers, make up a large and growing percentage of arrests across the border.
U.S. authorities arrested or stopped people for immigration violations 58,207 times in January, down 4 percent from 60,779 in December but up 62 percent from 35,905 in January 2018. It was the second straight monthly decline, though arrests typically fall from December to January.
Families and children traveling alone accounted for 33,861 of those encounters, or nearly 6 of every 10 stopped at official crossings or arrested for entering the country illegally between crossings, mostly from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
That's a dramatic change from several years ago when most people who crossed illegally were single Mexican adults.
The January numbers are unlikely to swing public opinion either way in President Trump's showdown with Democratic leaders in Congress over funding to replace and extend border walls with Mexico. The impasse led to a five-week partial government shutdown that ended when Trump agreed to reopen the government until Feb. 15.
The large percentage of families and young children has stretched U.S. authorities, even more in remote areas where staffing is thinner.
Customs and Border Protection says medical attention was needed about 12,000 times for border crossers in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30.
On Jan. 14, a group of 376 Central Americans was arrested near San Luis, Arizona, the vast majority of them Guatemalan families who dug short, shallow holes under a barrier to cross the border, according to authorities.
https://lompocrecord.com/news/local/state-and...1cd79.html
Group of 325 Central Americans surrendered to BP agents west of Lukeville
Group of 325 Central Americans Apprehended Near Lukeville (Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations helicopter, investigating a possible campfire spotted by a surveillance camera, discovered the group amid freezing temperatures. The group had illegally entered the country through an area where there is only a vehicle barrier designed to prevent crossings.
Border fencing Lukeville.
Group members indicated that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout the night on Mexico’s Federal Highway 2 that parallels the U.S. border less than 50 yards from this area. Once the entire group arrived, they crossed together at 8 a.m. to await authorities.
The group consisted of individuals and family units from Central America and included nearly 150 juveniles, 32 of whom were unaccompanied.
For the next several hours, agents patrolling other areas were reassigned to provide security, care, and transportation for the group. Using vans and trucks, agents transported the group more than 15 miles through rugged desert terrain to a staging location where buses could transport the group to the nearest Border Patrol facility for processing.
Trained Department of Homeland Security medical staff, to include a physician, responded to screen the group. Two juveniles, a 5-year-old with possible chicken pox, and a 12-year-old with a skin infection, were sent to a local hospital for treatment while the remaining persons began immigration processing.
Year-to-date, Tucson Sector has messaged news releases of three groups totaling more than 650 apprehensions in this remote and unsecured location.
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/02/08/group...lukeville/
$324 million contract awarded to replace border fencing near Yuma and Lukeville
TUCSON — Customs and Border Protection officials announced Thursday they awarded a contract to replace 14 miles of pedestrian fencing along the border near Yuma, with construction expected to begin in April 2019.
That project is part of a wider plan to replace 32 miles of border fencing along southwestern Arizona, which has become a busy crossing point for migrant families and minors seeking asylum in the United States.
In a statement, CBP said the agency, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, awarded a $324 million contract to Barnard Construction Company of Bozeman, Montana.
The contract includes $172 million to install 14 miles of primary pedestrian fencing near Yuma.
Funding for this project will come from the $1.6 billion that Congress allocated in the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill for the construction of new and replacement border fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The primary pedestrian replacement wall in Arizona will improve each sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations," CBP said in a statement.
In addition to the replacement of 14 miles of pedestrian fencing in Yuma, the federal agency said it plans on replacing an additional 13 miles in other parts of the Yuma border, as well as five miles near Lukeville.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics...013752002/
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