WASHINGTON – A busy December set a record for the number of migrant parents and children taken into custody, as U.S. border agents arrested 27,518 members of “family units,” according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics obtained by The Washington Post. The change has perplexed Homeland Security officials, while providing a minor reprieve for frustrated U.S. border agents required to work without pay through the shutdown. The deaths of the two children last month in CBP custody were the first of such incidents in a decade, Homeland Security officials said. The families are typically dropped off near the border, then directed to walk across and surrender to U.S. agents, allowing them to initiate the asylum process. And while U.S. officials are imposing daily limits on the number of migrants allowed to apply for asylum at the busiest border crossings, families crossing in remote rural areas face no wait times.

Source: National Post January 10, 2019 13:52 UTC