Illegal immigration at worst rate since 2007

Illegal immigration across the southwest border is at its highest levels in more than a decade, the government said Tuesday, contradicting claims of Democrats who say there is no border crisis and bolstering President Trump’s case for an emergency.

Border Patrol agents nabbed more than 66,000 illegal immigrants jumping the border in February alone, the worst such month since February 2008, and overall illegal immigration is up 97 percent compared to last year.

At that rate, the country is on track to arrest more than 780,000 illegal immigrants trying to sneak into the country this fiscal year. That would be the worst since 2007.

Officials said the current numbers are worse, though, in that a majority of them are children and families from Central America, under current U.S. policy they are much tougher to deport. That only invites more to make the journey, said Brian Hastings. chief of operations at the Border Patrol.

“The word of mouth and social media quickly gets back to those in northern triangle countries — if you bring a child, you’ll be successful,” Chief Hastings said.

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