WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Border Patrol says it has set a new monthly record for apprehensions of families at the southern border, driven primarily by a surge of parents and children leaving Central America.
The agency said Tuesday that it apprehended about 92,000 people at the U.S.-Mexico border in March.
About 53,000 of the people apprehended were parents and children traveling together, which the Border Patrol refers to as "family units." That breaks a record set in February, when the agency apprehended 36,174 parents and children. Another 8,900 were children traveling alone.
The large numbers of families have forced many line agents into humanitarian roles and have strained detention facilities built when the Border Patrol primarily apprehended single adult men.
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