(Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Arrests at the southwest border increased for the fourth straight month in May as authorities continued to grapple with an unprecedented influx of migrants from Central America.

132,887 people were arrested between ports of entry in May, up from 99,304 migrants in April, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Wednesday. Arrests of single adults rose by over 5,000 last month, while apprehensions of unaccompanied children rose by 2,600 and those of family units rose by 26,000.


In all, 396,579 people have been apprehended at the border since the beginning of October.

As the flow of migrants continued to increase, the White House requested $4.5 billion in emergency funds from Congress last month to deal with the crisis, including $3.3 billion in humanitarian assistance and $1.1 billion for law-enforcement operations. Agencies have warned they are overwhelmed by the influx of migrants turning up both at ports of entry and between them. The Office of Refugee Resettlement and other programs are at risk of running out of funding by the beginning of the summer, the White House Budget Office has said.

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