US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported they arrested the largest group of illegal immigrants crossing US-Mexico border on their record earlier this week, Trend reported citing Sputnik.
According to the CBP, there were 376 people in the group, including 179 children; 30 of those children were unaccompanied, the agency says.
"In my 30 years with the Border Patrol, I have not been part of arresting a group of 376 people," Anthony Porvaznik, the CBP sector chief in Yuman, said in an interview for ABC. "That's really unheard of."
The group was arrested near San Luis, Arizona, according to a report by The Hill.
Speaking in an interview, Porvaznik said CBP needs "better barriers" on the border to mitigate the influx of illegal immigrants from Central America.
Most of the migrants come from Central American countries, such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. They form huge caravans, which sometimes include thousands of people, and march across Mexico in hopes of crossing the US border, apparently seeking US-grade social benefits, as evident by their mass neglect for Mexico's invitation to stay and apply for refugee status there.
In the meantime, Democrats, who dominate the House of Representatives, have blocked Trump's funding requests for his border protection project, which involves a $5.7 billion investment in construction of physical barrier on the border, forcing the government into longest shutdown in US history and furloughing hundreds of thousands of government employees without payment.
In a January 8 television address, Trump called the migrant situation a "humanitarian crisis," citing the flow of heroin and other drugs being smuggled from Mexico.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) fiscal year 2018 Enforcement and Removal Operations report, ICE arrested 2,028 illegal immigrants who had homicide offense histories. A similar report from 2017 indicated 1,886 arrests of illegal immigrants with homicide histories.