Sixty-nine members of a migrant caravan that wound its way from Central American through Mexico to the U.S. border were arrested Sunday after a confrontation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
The clash between approximately 500 people and U.S. customs agents ended when tear gas was fired at members of the group who were charging toward the border near San Ysidro, California.
The migrants, a fraction of the estimated 6,200 migrants camped in Tijuana, Mexico, were protesting the U.S. policy on asylum, claiming that the process takes too long to complete.
Many of those in the caravan that left Central America in October are camped near the border, trying to gain entry into the United States by applying for asylum.
Here is a look at some of the numbers that define the plight of the migrants perched at the southern border of the United States.
- 6,200: The number of Central American migrants camped in Tijuana, Mexico, as of Sunday
- 3,000: The number of migrants in the Mexican city of Mexicali, a few hours east of Tijuana, as of Sunday
- 100: The average number of asylum claims processed a day at the San Ysidro, California, border crossing facility
- 80: The number of asylum seekers allowed into the U.S. at the San Ysidro border crossing on Friday, Nov. 23
- 40: The number of asylum seekers allowed into the U.S. at San Ysidro on Saturday, Nov. 24
- 6: The number of months it is estimated to take to process the migrant caravan that is in Tijuana now
- 100,000: The number of visitors per day to the United States who enter using the San Ysidro border crossing into the United States
- 23,121: The number of "family units" who were arrested along the U.S. southern border in October
- 150: The percentage increase in arrests of family units along the southern border since July 2018
- $10,000: How much one Central American migrant said he would have been charged by a smuggler to travel to the United States
- $9,000: How much that migrant was charged for his passage and passage for a child; some smugglers give a discount when a migrant brings a child along
- 39,322: The average number of undocumented immigrants who are in custody on a given day in the United States
- $2.8 billion: The amount the Trump administration has requested so Immigration and Customs Enforcement can expand the detention capacity for an average of 49,000 adults and 2,500 families
- 5,800: The number of active-duty troops recently sent to secure the southern border of the United States
- 12,290,905: The total number of deportations during Bill Clinton's presidency
- 10,328,850: The total number of deportations during George W. Bush's presidency
- 5,281,115: The total number of deportations during Barack Obama's presidency
- 226,000: The number of undocumented aliens removed from the country in the 2017 fiscal year, down 6 percent since FY 2016
- 2,000: The number of miles along the southern border
Sources: The Washington Post; The Department of Homeland Security; The Hill; Reuters
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