Illegal crossings at US-Mexico border up 6% in January 2021

CHICAGO (NewsNation Now)— Illegal border crossings were up 6% in January 2021 over the prior month, according to the US Border Patrol, which some experts attribute to migrants believing they’ll get better treatment from the Biden administration.

Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said today migrants are being victimized by misinformation.

“It’s not true that everyone can go now to the United States and they will be regularized,” said López Obrador. He added that too many are deceived by human smugglers who paint a “rosy picture.”

A UN official also said yesterday that there are widespread — and false — rumors that the US border is open.

 President Biden has been vocally supportive of a different approach to immigration than former president Trump.

“We’re going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally – not figuratively – ripped children from the arms of their families, their mothers and fathers at the border.”

President Joe Biden

Immigration authorities said Wednesday they made more than 78,000 arrests at the Southern border in January. That is the largest number for the month of January in more than a decade.

American Immigration Council Policy Counsel, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, told NewsNation Political Correspondent Dean Reynolds that the number is misleading.

“We’re in a situation where the Border Patrol is arresting the same people multiple times, more than any amount than we’ve seen in the last decade,” said Reichlin-Melnick. “Most of these people are apprehended within minutes after entry, because the Border Patrol, these days, is actually quite efficient at detecting people.”

Hurricanes, poverty, and gang violence are just some of the factors that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Central and South America. Those migrants are heading north to the Rio Grande river, regardless of the reception that may await them.

Venezuelan man Eligio Alberto said migrants are in need of help from America and added, “our people are dying.”

 At today’s White House Press briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki asked for patience.

“We don’t want people to put themselves in danger at a time where it is not the right time to come. Because we have not had time to put in place a humane and moral system and process,” said Psaki.

The Biden administration this week established a new 160,000 square foot tent facility in Donna, Texas to process those in Border Patrol custody. An overflow facility for 700 migrant children over 13 is opening as well in Carrizo Springs.