Many remain determined to reach the U.S. through more dangerous means, riding freight trains, hiring smugglers and dodging authorities.

Naser Zazai, 29, had planned to reunite with his mother and brother in the United States this week after fleeing Afghanistan, where he says he was threatened and attacked because his brother had once worked for the U.

Premier combat troops have been ordered to the southern border, as part of Trump’s militarization of immigration.

The U.S. southern border has seen a sharp drop in migrant encounters entering between ports of entry at the southern border, according to a CBP source.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has directed prosecutors to investigate officials who resist immigration enforcement efforts, intensifying a sweeping crackdown that Trump launched the day he took office.