U.S. arrests 210,000 migrants at Mexico border in March, rivalling record highs

Migrants stranded in Tapachula take part in a caravan towards the U.S. after growing impatient with waiting for the humanitarian visa to cross the country, in Tapachula, Mexico April 16, 2022. [Reuters]

U.S. border authorities arrested 210,000 migrants attempting to cross the border with Mexico in March, the highest monthly total in two decades and underscoring challenges in the coming months for U.S. President Joe Biden.

The March total is a 24 per cent increase from the same month a year earlier when 169,000 migrants were picked up at the border, the start of a rise in migration that left thousands of unaccompanied children stuck in crowded border patrol stations for days while they awaited placement in overwhelmed government-run shelters.