U.S. border officials on track to process over 300,000 migrants in December, the highest monthly tally on record
CBSN
Washington — U.S. immigration officials along the southern border are on track to process more than 300,000 migrants in December, an all-time monthly high that will likely include record numbers of families traveling with children, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.
The extraordinary number of migrant arrivals this month is the most dire juncture yet of a three-year-long crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border that has strained resources in small and large U.S. communities, left countless of migrants in limbo, prompted lawmakers to consider drastically limiting asylum and created a major political vulnerability for President Biden as he seeks reelection.
U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Mexican border are on course to take into custody this month a quarter of a million migrants who entered the country illegally, while their colleagues at official ports of entry are expected to process roughly 50,000 new arrivals under a Biden administration appointment system.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.