U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics released Friday indicate that border guards have arrested 290 percent more family units so far in this fiscal year than during the same period in the previous fiscal year.
According to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security agency, the data indicates that migrant families are continuing to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in the wake of the migrant caravan that generated enormous media coverage in late 2018. Another one is reportedly nearing the border.
The border protection service noted that most of the families are coming from Central American countries.
Border Patrol officers patrol before the US Secretary of Homeland Security inaugurates the first completed section of the 30-foot border wall in the El Centro Sector, at the US-Mexico border in Calexico, California on Octt. 26, 2018. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)
United States Border Patrol (USBP) agents have arrested a total of 99,901 illegals in the current fiscal year as compared to 25,625 during the same period in the previous fiscal year. (RELATED: US Border Patrol Warns Texans About Militias Stopping Migrant Caravan)
USBP agents report that large groups of 100 or more are trying to enter the United States illegally at random border crossings. Statistics indicate that as of the end of January, USBP guards apprehended 58 such groups while the encountering only 13 in January 2018. (RELATED: Trump Introduces Border Patrol Agents With One Message: ‘We Need The Wall’)
The data is strikingly similar to other USBP information that indicates violence at the border has increased by 300 percent over the same period last year. The spike in border violations has prompted many to demand the border wall that President Donald Trump says he is committed to building; even former President Barack Obama’s border security chief says a wall would work.
US President Donald Trump speaks during his visit to US Border Patrol McAllen Station in McAllen, Texas, on Jan. 10, 2019. – Trump travels to the US-Mexico border as part of his all-out offensive to build a wall. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
“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, Brian Hastings, U.S. Border Patrol chief of operations, said in the news release. “These trends family Illegals are very concerning and demonstrate the reality of the ongoing humanitarian and border security crisis.”