U.S. border officials on track to process over 300,000 migrants in December, the highest monthly tally on record

Washington — U.S. immigration officials along the southern border are on track to process more than 300,000 migrants in December, an all-time monthly high that will likely include record numbers of families traveling with children, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

The extraordinary number of migrant arrivals this month is the most dire juncture yet of a three-year-long crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border that has strained resources in small and large U.S. communities, left countless of migrants in limbo, prompted lawmakers to consider drastically limiting asylum and created a major political vulnerability for President Biden as he seeks reelection.

U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Mexican border are on course to take into custody this month a quarter of a million migrants who entered the country illegally, while their colleagues at official ports of entry are expected to process roughly 50,000 new arrivals under a Biden administration appointment system.