TUCSON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection released the January border enforcement statistics on Friday, which “show that a sustained, high volume of families and unaccompanied children from Central America are attempting to cross the Southwest border.”
Earlier last week, the Arizona Daily Independent reported that a group of 325 Central Americans was apprehended near Lukeville. That report was just one of many reports of massive groups of migrants entering the country illegally.
“Large groups of 100 or more people, many of which are families from Central America, are increasingly crossing the border illegally in remote areas,” the report says. “As of January, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered 58 large groups so far this year compared to 13 during this same period in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.”
The ongoing border crisis involving thousands of illegal immigrants in organized caravans, which has become a main issue in the ongoing battle between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress, is not slowing down.
“Family units and unaccompanied children from Central America are crossing the border illegally in greater numbers and in larger groups than ever before, straining our law enforcement resources,” said U.S. Border Patrol Chief of Operations Brian Hastings in a press release. “These trends are very concerning and demonstrate the reality of the ongoing humanitarian and border security crisis.”
CBP reports that “family unit apprehensions by USBP agents so far this Fiscal Year are up 290 percent compared to the same period in FY 2018, from 25,.625 in FY 2018 to 99,901 so far this year.”
The Washington Times reported last week that the groups are used by cartels to “overwhelm Border Patrol agents — then send a shipment of drugs across the border in a nearby location, confident that the agents are occupied feeding or performing medical checks on the illegal immigrants and won’t be able to respond.”
From CBP – U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions FY 2019
| USBP | Demographic | OCT | NOV | DEC | JAN | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Border | UAC | 4,971 | 5,264 | 4,764 | 5,124 | 20,123 |
| Family Units | 23,114 | 25,164 | 27,507 | 24,116 | 99,901 | |
| Southwest Border Total Apprehensions | 50,998 | 51,857 | 50,749 | 47,893 | 201,497 | |
*Note: Family Unit represents the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent or legal guardian) apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol.
In January, 47,893 people were apprehended between ports of entry on the Southwest Border, compared with 50,749 in the month of December and 51,857 in November. In FY18, a total of 396,579 individuals were apprehended between ports of entry on our Southwest Border.
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