Illegal crossings surge in remote areas as Congress, White House weigh major asylum limits

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — Hundreds of dates are written on concrete-filled steel columns erected along the U.S. border with Mexico to memorialize when the Border Patrol has repaired illicit openings in the would-be barriers. Yet no sooner are fixes made than another column is sawed, torched and chiseled for large groups of migrants to enter, usually with no agents in sight. A Border Patrol tour in Arizona for news organizations, including The Associated Press, showed improvements in custody conditions and processing times, but flows are “unprecedented” across the border. The numbers have nudged negotiators for the White House and congressional Democrats to consider major limits to asylum as part of a deal for Ukraine aid.