Rising Number of Migrants Arriving at Southern Border

The number of migrants coming to the Mexico-U.S. border is on the rise, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and border officials. Anonymous officials recently told Reuters that nearly 100,000 migrants were detained at the border in February, and that 4,500 were detained this Wednesday alone. DHS said more than 5,700 unaccompanied minors came to the border in January, the highest total for that month in recent memory; the department reportedly expects roughly 117,000 unaccompanied children to cross the border in 2021. The situation at the southern border has been framed as a brewing crisis by outlets across the political spectrum, particularly on the right and in local news outlets in border states. Some voices on the right, including former President Donald Trump, have accused President Joe Biden of encouraging a crisis with his rhetoric about immigration policy and by repealing Trump-era immigration rules.