The US-Mexico border saw a significant jump in border crossings in August — fueled by illegal migrants deported under President Trump’s immigration crackdown trying to sneak back into the country, sources told The Post.
Border agents encountered more than 7,200 illegal crossers this month, preliminary data obtained exclusively by The Post shows — a 57% surge from the 4,600 migrants recorded in July, which was the lowest number in recorded history.
Migrants waiting at the US-Mexico border. Getty Images
Border agents have seen a 57% surge in illegal crossers this month. Anadolu via Getty ImagesStill, despite the notable rise, the number pales in comparison to the rush seen at the border under the Biden administration.
The feds caught roughly 58,000 illegal migrants last August and more than 132,000 in August 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
A Homeland Security source said the jump was driven by deportees swept up in Trump’s mass deportation campaign trying to sneak back into the US.
“They are trying to come back,” the source said.
A Border Patrol insider also said that agents are seeing an increase in violent, criminal migrants trying to cross.
“What we are seeing right now is a lot of criminals and we are having a lot of people trying to assault us,” the source said.
“It used to be maybe one out of every thousand would do something like that, now it’s probably every day.”
In the San Diego border sector, agents nabbed “numerous people” who were recently deported after they were caught working illegally at a marijuana farm in southern California in July, sources said.
The massive operation yielded 361 arrests of illegal immigrants, according to DHS. The feds also rescued 14 children who were working at the pot farm.
Agents also say they see many crossers trying to assault them. Anadolu via Getty Images
The surge in crossers comes after President Trump’s immigration crackdown. James KeivomHowever, unlike under former President Joe Biden, the Trump administration has consequences for illegal border crossers, including no longer practicing the problematic practice of catch and release.
When an illegal migrant is caught at the border now, agents will process them and then either send them back into Mexico or to ICE for deportation.
Between May and July, no illegal border crossers were released into the US, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.
“More than 200 days into this job, we have achieved operational security at the border,” she said.
The Trump administration has also increased prosecutions of illegal border crossers, hitting them with federal charges for illegal entry, reentry after deportation, and smuggling, according to sources.
