The border forces duties

Border agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are federal entities in charge of, among other tasks, protecting borders from narcotic trafficking and preventing illegal immigration.

These entities have played a key role during the term of President Donald Trump, who has tried to reduce and curb illegal immigration, mainly from Central America, by using all the tools at his disposal.

In fact, the Trump administration hired more than 10,000 ICE agents, who not only protect the borders, but also conduct exhaustive investigations and operations to locate undocumented immigrants who managed to cross the borders without prior authorization and initiate deportation proceedings for them.

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Undocumented immigrant arrests amid the health crisis

CBP releases monthly official figures with the number of immigrants detained at the borders of the US. Naturally, the number of apprehensions at the borders dropped substantially after the sudden arrival of the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Adding to that, due to the health crisis, the Trump administration decided to restrict the entry of foreigners and most undocumented immigrants arrested during the sanitary emergency faced deportation almost immediately, in many cases within hours.

Let’s look at some of the official arrest figures for fiscal year 2020 (October-September), amid the global pandemic:

• In April 2020, border forces detained a total of 17,106 undocumented immigrants at the southwest border, while, in April 2019, border forces detained a total of 109,415 undocumented immigrants. This represents a reduction of more than 84%.
• In May 2020, border forces detained a total of 23,237 undocumented immigrants at the southwest border, while in May 2019, border forces detained a total of 144,116 undocumented immigrants. This represents a reduction of more than 83%.

However, dozens of critics and activists warned that the Trump administration’s emergency measures to curb illegal immigration during the health crisis were quite strict and, therefore, would only unleash a wave of massive immigration after the threat to public health abated, which indeed happened.

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Undocumented immigrant arrests at the borders increased in October

According to official CBP figures, which were updated on Thursday, November 19, 2020, during the first month of fiscal year 2021 (October 2020), border forces detained 69,237 undocumented immigrants.

It is important to clarify that, during September, CBP reported a total of 57,674 apprehensions at the southwest border. It means that in just one month there was an increase of more than 20%.

Officials assure that the increase is mainly due to immigrants who try to cross the borders again and again after facing deportation under emergency measures adopted by the Trump administration to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and prevent another massive outbreak of COVID-19.

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