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![](\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/12\/04\/Yuma_2019April_510A5126-600x400.jpg\")
Border Patrol processes a group of illegal aliens after they crossed from Mexico into Yuma, Ariz., on April 13, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe said the vast majority of the aliens traveled from their home country\u2014predominantly Guatemala\u2014up to the border in air-conditioned buses or vans.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo by the time they leave Guatemala, or wherever, on Monday, by Wednesday or Thursday, theyre here at the border, and by Friday or Saturday they were out on the streets of the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThats how streamlined this process was for them, especially during the height of the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of those crossing into Yuma were headed for one of four common destinations: Homestead, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Houston, Texas; or Oakland, California.<\/p>\n
Illegal immigrant adults with children were released into the United States with ankle monitoring bracelets and court dates for their immigration hearings.<\/p>\n
Garibay said a study undertaken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Charleston found that 90 percent of families that were released with ankle monitoring bracelets cut them off.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine how many across the whole border,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mexico Steps Up<\/h2>\n
Garibay attributes the implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and Mexicos deployment of its National Guard on its northern border as the major factors in turning the tide.<\/p>\n
Also known as \u201cRemain in Mexico,\u201d the MPP is an agreement between the United States and Mexico, under which those who cross the U.S. border illegally will likely be housed by Mexico, instead of being released into the United States while they await court proceedings.<\/p>\n
The program doesnt yet run across all sectors along the southwest border, but in Yuma it does, and it has proven effective. Asylum-seekers and others who cross into Yuma are processed by Border Patrol and sent to Mexicali, Mexico, to await proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a huge deterrence for them, because it took away that 100 percent chance of them getting released into the country just because they have a child,\u201d Garibay said.<\/p>\n
However, the MPP doesnt yet operate for the neighboring Tucson, Arizona, border sector, and its clear the numbers there are rising as smugglers divert the illegal border traffic from Yuma.<\/p>\n
During the first six months of 2019, Yumas apprehension numbers were higher than Tucsons. However after May when MPP started kicking in for Yuma, its apprehensions declined from almost 7,200 in June to 795 in October. In Tucson, apprehensions hit 5,500 in June, then dipped to 4,000 in August, before rising again to more than 6,350 in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we get MPP across the whole southwest border, thatll be a huge game changer because it wont allow them to take advantage of that loophole,\u201d Garibay said.<\/p>\n YUMA, Ariz.\u2014Border agents in Yuma are back on patrol after months of being inundated with floods of ..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"