(NewsNation) — More than 20,000 migrants are in Customs and Border Protection custody right now, a number not seen since the week leading up to the end of Title 42, Department of Homeland Security sources confirmed to NewsNation.
Most of the sectors along the southern border are exceeding capacity. The El Paso Sector in Texas leads with 4,551 people in facilities there.
The last time capacity numbers were this high was before Title 42, a COVID-19-era policy allowing border officials to bar migrants from entering the U.S. on public health grounds. The policy ended in May.
Law enforcement along the U.S./Mexico border saw a surge of people trying to cross the border the weeks before Title 42 expired. A few days before its expiration on May 11, sources told NewsNation’s Ali Bradley that there were more than 25,000 migrants in Customs and Border Protection custody, a record high.
In the days immediately following Title 42, though, apprehensions and migrant crossings, as well as the number of people who evaded law enforcement, dropped dramatically.
There are reports, though, that illegal crossings have recently spiked again.
Data obtained by The Washington Post shows that illegal crossings on the southern border increased by at least 30% in July, with U.S. agents making more than 130,000 arrests along the Mexico border last month — a jump from the 99,545 they made in June.
This jump in crossings, the Post said, was “most pronounced” in the deserts of southern Arizona, with 40,000 July arrests, the highest single-month total in 15 years.
Agents in the Tuscon area have told NewsNation they are overwhelmed by this and have trouble patrolling the border because they are busy transporting or processing hundreds of people.