Border arrests remain near peak of Trump era

U.S. border agents made more than 50,000 arrests in May for the third month in a row, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday, an indication that escalating enforcement tactics by the Trump administration - including separating migrant parents from their children - has not had an immediate deterrent effect.DHS took 51,912 migrants into custody in May, more than three times the number detained in May 2017, a period when illegal immigration plunged following Donald Trump's inauguration.

Arrests at the border this spring have jumped to their highest levels since Trump took office, and the reversal has left the president furious at Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other aides who he believes aren't doing enough to stop the trend.

Border arrest statistics have long served as a metric for illegal immigration flows, but the Trump administration has treated their monthly publication as a barometer for the president's security efforts.