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New U.S federal data has indicated that there were a large number of migrants arrested on the U.S-Mexico border during 2019. It spiked to the highest levels during the past 10 years. Figures are showing that more than 851,000 people were apprehended and taken into the U.S custody between 1 October 2018 and the end of September 2019. It marked the highest rate of arrests since 2007, during the administration of President George W Bush. The latest figures, first obtained by the Washington Examiner, come as Donald Trump has imposed strict immigration policies, including strict cuts to the U.S refugee program, and amped up levels of workplace raids for undocumented immigrants living in the country already.

Trump has frequently claimed in defending those positions that immigrants commit crimes while in the United States and make the country less safe. The administration of Donald Trump has also claimed that harsh policies towards immigrants would serve to deter others from trying to enter the United States. According to the latest data, more than 450,000 of the people arriving at the US-Mexico border arrived with a family member. That’s up from just 80,000 in 2015.

The new figures do not indicate how many migrants were able to claim asylum once they arrived in the United States. Previous data showed the new arrest numbers represent a spike from what had been seen during the administration of Barack Obama and even the first couple of years of the Trump presidency. But, the rate of arrest spiked with the Zero Tolerance 2018 policy of Trump administration. Those policies led to the separation of parents from children arriving at the border, resulting in so-called child migrant camps across the United States.