ANTELOPE WELLS, NEW MEXICO – JANUARY 30: A small Border Patrol outpost is seen through a “Normandy”-style fence at the U.S.-Mexico border on January 30, 2019 in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Since October, dozens of large groups of 100 or more migrants have crossed the border into the remote “Bootheel” region of southwest New Mexico […]

U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested 290 Central Americans who entered the country illegally near a port of entry in a remote area of southwestern New Mexico.

Customs and Border Protection said the migrants arrested early Friday near Antelope Wells 122 miles (197 kilometers) west of El Paso, Texas, were from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras and that they included a boy who appeared to be ill and who was taken to a hospital for treatment.

CBP said over 27 groups of more than 100 people have been apprehended in the area in the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

It is unclear what’s driving the uptick of large groups in remote areas but families make up a large and growing percentage of arrests across the border.