The Biden administration is struggling to address an influx of unaccompanied minors attempting to cross the US southern border as figures confirmed a sharp jump in attempted crossings by people in the weeks since Joe Biden took office.

The US Customs and Border Protection announced on Wednesday that 100,441 people had attempted entry along the US southern border in February — a 28 per cent increase from January. The agency reported that 9,457 of those individuals were unaccompanied minors — a 62 per cent increase from January.

In a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Roberta Jacobson, the co-ordinator for the southwestern border on the National Security Council, advised that no one, “especially children and family with young children, should make the dangerous trip to trying to enter the US in an irregular fashion”.