Even Amid Texas Border Crackdown, Illegal Crossings Still High

FILE - Migrants wait to be processed by the US Customs and Border Patrol after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the US from Mexico, Oct. 19, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. FILE - Abdoul, 32 year-old migrant from Maghama, Mauritania, poses for a photograph at his shared apartment on Oct. 6, 2023, in New York. FILE - Migrants walk past a barrier after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the US from Mexico, Oct. 19, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Before settling in New York City like thousands of other migrants this year, Abdoul, a 32-year-old from West Africa, took an unexpected detour: Weeks in a remote Texas jail on local trespassing charges after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.