In a remote area of the Arizona desert, near a hole in the border wall, dozens of migrants huddled around wood fires.
After fleeing the war in Sudan, violent gangs in Central America or Mexican cartels, the men crossed illegally into the United States, walking through rugged terrain for hours, and arrived at this outpost exhausted , hunger and cold.
They wanted to turn themselves in to the authorities to seek asylum, but ended up here, miles away from the nearest town, Sásabe.
Then, as the temperature dropped Tuesday night, a convoy of Border Patrol agents rolled in, loaded the men into a van to be processed and sped away – off to find more people in need of rescue.
“We’re not equipped to deal with this,” said Scott Carmon, a watch commander with the Border Patrol, as he surveyed the muddy camp. “This is a humanitarian disaster.”
This is the crisis unfolding on the southern border, as migrant encounters have once again hit record levels and tested the capacity of American law enforcement to contain an explosion of illegal crossings with far-reaching implications for the Biden administration.
Thousands of migrants arrive at the border every day, traveling from the farthest reaches of the world, from Africa to Asia to South America, driven by relentless violence, desperation and poverty.
In May, the Biden administration briefly celebrated when the crossings declined, even as border restrictions were lifted during the pandemic and many feared the floodgates would open. But the numbers have swelled in recent months, drawing sharp criticism from both parties and fears within the administration that the issue could damage Democrats’ electoral future.
Last week, the number of apprehensions reached more than 10,000 a day — stretching Border Patrol resources and overwhelming small towns on both sides of the border, where people are being herded by smugglers who con- including new routes to avoid capture by US authorities.
“In terms of migrants per day, December 2023 is larger than any average we’ve seen,” said Adam Isacson, a migration expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. “Every official who has commented on this, at all levels, says they are near or past the breaking point.”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and other senior officials traveled to Mexico on Wednesday to discuss increased migration with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as American officials monitored a new caravan of more than 2,000 migrants moving northward across the country to the United States.
The caravan is unlikely to reach the United States, experts said, but it has attracted significant media attention given the number of migrants who have already crossed the border in droves.
Mexico has been a staunch enforcer of US border restrictions, stopping a record number of migrants this year, government figures show. But in December, the National Migration Institute, a government agency, suspended migrant deportations from the country due to a lack of funding, according to an institute official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Experts and officials are still piecing together what is behind the recent migration boom.
Among the leading theories: a larger number of Mexicans apparently fleeing cartel turf battles across the country; rumors about the end of a major legal path that may have prompted a rush to cross; and smugglers who have driven desperate people of all nationalities to try to enter ever more remote parts of the border.
“If you move to an area that’s too remote, there won’t be as many agents on staff and that increases your chances of being released to the US,” Mr. Isacson said. “There’s no place to put people. They can’t touch you.”
Izzeddin, a 32-year-old migrant from Sudan, was among about a dozen men from his homeland at the Arizona encampment on Tuesday. He sipped sweet coffee provided by an aid group, No More Deaths, which helped keep migrants alive with blankets, food and 911 calls to address life-threatening injuries.
“We came here because we needed protection,” said Izzeddin, who asked to be identified only by his first name, fearing reprisals against his family.
A raging civil war in Sudan has driven millions from their homes, including these men, who say they lost family members and left loved ones in refugee camps to travel to in the United States.
In Sudan, Izzeddin said, “we saw people being killed, raped.” He and his companions, he said, were waiting for one thing: “border patrol to pick us up and give us protection.”
Often, migrants who come to the United States and seek asylum — protection from political or other persecution at home — don’t actually have their claims vetted upon arrival. Because of the limited capacity to detain people at the border, many are instead released with a court date for a judge to review their cases. The process can take years.
In Arizona, border officials closed a major port of entry to legal crossings in early December to target illegals.
Mr. Carmon, the Border Patrol watch commander, pleaded for more resources. “Give us more help, give us FEMA,” he said.
Last week, workers from No More Deaths evacuated migrants caught in a storm to a nearby Border Patrol facility, a spokeswoman for the group said.
“If we have a city that’s flooded and people have to evacuate, they’re going to drive National Guard trucks, big cattle trucks, and put our citizens in them,” Mr. Carmon said. “Why they didn’t come down here to help us bring these people to safety and warmth, I don’t know.”
For Izzeddin, being exposed to the elements in the desert was safer than staying in Sudan.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s cold,” he said. “There is peace here.”
Hamed Aleaziz and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega contributed reporting from Mexico City.
