The immigration authorities and the border service announced that over the past year, about 475,000 migrant families have been arrested on the southern border, more than 1 million people overall. This amounts to almost 3.5 times more arrests than in 2018.
U.S. border guards detained 473,682 family members in the fiscal year 2019, compared to 107,212 in the fiscal year 2018. In addition, 76,020 unaccompanied children were taken into custody at the US-Mexico border, more than in any previous year.
This surge is due, inter alia, to the fact that the number of asylum seekers in the United States has increased.
The issue of suspension of refugees is still under active consideration. On October 29, 2019, the ban on the acceptance of refugees in the United States was extended until November 2019.
The administration of the president has proposed limiting the number of refugees accepted in 2019 to 30,000. Next fiscal year, it is proposed to reduce this figure to 18,000, which is a historic minimum.
It was repeatedly noted that in 2019, the waiting time for a decision on an asylum case has increased sharply. The planned sharp restrictions on the number of refugees will lead to significant difficulties for people persecuted in their countries and planning to seek political asylum in the United States.