More arrested at the border in first half of fiscal 2019 than all of fiscal 2018

The federal law enforcement agency that oversees all border and customs operations has arrested more people illegally crossing from Mexico into the U.S. in roughly the first six months of the 2019 fiscal year than in all of the previous year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said as of last week, more than 418,000 people had been apprehended since Oct. 1. In all of fiscal 2018 — from Oct. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018 — 404,142 people were taken into custody across all U.S. borders. Exactly 99% of all apprehensions — 414,000 — took place on the southwest border in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The other 4,000 were on the northern border or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Recently-ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told lawmakers last month she expected the department to apprehend 900,000 unauthorized immigrants at the border this year, though that figure includes people who try to enter at border crossings. Nine Border Patrol regions or "sectors" make up the southwest border. The Rio Grande Valley Sector, the most eastern one, has seen the most apprehensions in 2019...MORE