WORLD NEWS MAY 8, 2019 / 5:48 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Monthly border apprehensions reach highest level since 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. border officers apprehended nearly 99,000 people crossing the U.S. southern border in April, the highest figure since 2007, the government said on Wednesday, as Trump administration officials decried what they call a humanitarian and security crisis.

The steady increase in migrant arrivals, which has been building over the past several months, is driven by a growing number of children and families, especially from Central America. Many of the individuals surrender to border officials and request asylum in the United States because they fear violence and persecution in their home countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the rising number of Central American migrants attempting to cross the southern border, and his ire has been directed at his own officials, Congress and Latin American countries, which he says have not done enough to stop their citizens from traveling to the United States.

Carla Provost, the top U.S. Border Patrol official, called the situation an “unprecedented border security and humanitarian crisis along our southwest border” in testimony to a Senate committee on Wednesday, echoing previous statements by Trump administration officials.

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