US authorities have detected and detained over 100,000 migrants along the Mexican border during a four-week period ending on March 3, the highest in the same time frame over a five-year period, according to data reported by CNN on Tuesday.

American authorities have been forced to scramble resources to the border in response to an influx of migrants headed north towards the United States. Approximately 78,000 migrants were apprehended in January.

"February was unprecedented compared to the last five years," a senior Homeland Security official was quoted as saying by CNN. LPO has reached out to Homeland Security for comment.

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Historically, the number of migrants detained at the Mexican border rises in the spring.

Last March and April, however, the number dropped significantly as a result of Covid-19 restrictions that shut large parts of the border.

 American authorities have been forced to scramble resources to the border in response to an influx of migrants headed north towards the United States. Approximately 78,000 migrants were apprehended in January.

At the time, the Trump administration invoked a public health law that allowed authorities to swiftly remove migrants - including children - detained at the border.

The move was widely criticized by public health experts. In May 2020, for example, more than 20 health experts said in a statement that "the nation's public health laws should not be used as a pretext for overriding humanitarian laws and treaties that provide life-saving protections to refugees seeking asylum and unaccompanied children."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott. 

While the policy is still in effect, since Joe Biden became President in January unaccompanied children have been allowed to remain in the US while their immigration cases are settled, in addition to some families.

According to documents seen by CNN, the number of unaccompanied children currently detained at Border Patrol facilities has reached new highs, with 3,200 currently in custody, half of whom are in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

The number represents about 50% of the more than 6,500 people currently in custody.

Of the total, 2,600 are awaiting placement in shelters - which currently only have a capacity of approximately 500 beds available.

Over the weekend, a number of Biden administration officials - including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas - visited a temporary facility in Texas.

The official quoted by CNN said that the administration team saw a "significantly overcrowded facility" that included a large number of minors.

"The number of kids is alarming and concerning and not good and not good at all," the official said, adding that authorities are finding between 4,000 and 5,000 people each day.

Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state's own Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced that the state would be launching its own operation to secure the Texas-Mexico border.

Abbott harshly criticized the Biden administration's handling of border security.

"The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration," Abbott said in a statement.

"Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans," the statement added. "We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis."

The Biden administration is expected to officially release migration figures on Wednesday. In 2019, migration figures peaked in May, when 144,000 migrants were encountered.