US border patrol reports more people are being arrested along the southwest border than ever before, and that’s affecting all of the nation’s 328 ports around the country, including Montana.
Daniel Escobedo, Area Port Director for Customs and Border Protection, Sweetgrass, MT, said Montana’s border with Canada may be some 1,500 from that crisis but it is being impacted
He tells Yellowstone Public Radio News that several agents from northern ports have been sent to the southwest border but could not provide a specific number from Montana or other northern states.
“Currently CBP has temporarily reassigned up to 731 CBP officers from ports around the nation to border patrol sectors where apprehensions of family units and unaccompanied children from Central American has overwhelmed border patrol capabilities and facilities,” said Escobedo. "That includes CBP offers from northern border ports, seaports and airports in order to lesson that impact from any one port of entry.”
Escobedo said these stints along with southwest border are brief.
“I think we’re sending people for small periods of time and them sending them back," Escobedo said. “That’s where we are currently working, and it’s working for us right now. As I said I’m not sure how long this will last. It is definitely not getting any lesser of a crisis at this stage so we will continue to support as long as we need to.”
The security and humanitarian crisis along the southwest US border with Mexico is setting records.
Border Patrol Union President Brandon Judd shared a startling statistic on NPR’s Morning Edition on Friday, May 31.
“We are currently arresting around 6,000 people per day along the southwest border. That’s never happened before,” said Judd.
Montana’s border with Saskatchewan has also been in the news. CBP has cut hours of operations at the ports of Opheim, Scobey and Morgan from 13 to 10, and is evaluating whether the port at Raymond should remain a 24-hour port.
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