Last month, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency intercepted 144,278 migrants on the border with Mexico – an increase of 32 percent over the previous month’s figure of 109,474. From that total, 132,887 were detained by authorities at the border, compared to 99,304 in April and 92,840 in March. On Twitter, the CBP said it “continues to face a worsening crisis at the southwest border”, and in a separate post confirmed the number of migrants apprehended equated to an average of 4,286 people per day.
Despite Donald Trump’s continued threats against Mexico, in the form of a border wall between the two countries and billions of pounds with of tariffs against the country, the situation has only worsened.
Figures from the CBP show the number of migrants being stopped at the border is coming close to trebling in 2019 already.
In January, the CBP intercepted 58,288, and has been steadily rising ever since – February (76,533), March (103,729), April (109,474) and May (144,278).
Last May, 51,862 migrants were intercepted at the border, compared to 19,966 just 12 months earlier.
READ MORE: Can Donald Trump SHUT DOWN the border altogether?
In recent days, more than 100 people crossed the international bridge of Rodolfo Robles on the Suchiate River, which serves as a border between Guatemala and Mexico.
They are part of a new Central American group that are aiming to eventually each the US.
But most members of the group have been stranded on the border with Mexico, pending the resolution of their asylum requests in the US.
Mexico is trying to reach an agreement with the US after Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican products from Monday.
These could potentially rise by five percent every month until the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador makes efforts to curb illegal immigration.
But in the latest blow, Mr Trump has reacted furiously to the lack of progress made in talks with Mexico, and vowed to press ahead with his huge tariffs.
The US President wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “Immigration discussions at the White House with representatives of Mexico have ended for the day. Progress is being made, but not nearly enough!
“Talks with Mexico will resume tomorrow with the understanding that, if no agreement is reached, tariffs at the five percent level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule.”
With no agreement in sight, Mexico’s peso suffered under a double whammy from global trade wars and the country’s credit rating being downgraded by ratings agency Fitch to BBB.
Moody’s also changed its outlook to negative from stable, all of which pushed the US dollar up 0.6 percent against the beleaguered Mexican currency.
Tilmann Kolb, emerging markets FX rates and macro analyst at UBS, said: “There’s a general sense of unease.
“Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments this week were positive, but the ongoing tensions in China and Mexico are negative and high risk is never good for emerging markets.”
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.