GOP presidential front runner Donald Trump’s vow to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border seems to be spurring more illegal immigration in recent months, according to Reuters.
The news agency says there has been an increase in illegal immigration at the southern border as migrants seek to make it into the United States illegally before Trump gets into office and it is too late.
“They think they need to take advantage while they can,” Blanca Rivera, a manager of the Ciudad Juarez migrant shelter, told Reuters. Rivera noted that she has seen the recent increase in northward migration.
According to Reuters, between October and February Customs and Border Patrol apprehended 150,304 people attempting to illegally enter the U.S. via the southern border, about 24 percent more than the same time frame last year. Additionally, the number of unaccompanied minors detained illegally entering the U.S. from October to January — 20,455 — is up by over 100 percent compared to those same months last year.