Migrant Family Apprehensions at Border Up 450 Percent in 2019

Apprehensions of mostly Central American families who illegally cross the border between ports of entry are up more than 450 percent this year, despite recent decreases in June and July.

The apprehension of Family Unit Aliens by Border Patrol agents during the first 10 months of Fiscal Year 2019 jumped more than 450 percent, according to the July Southwest Border Migration Report released last week. In Fiscal Year 2019, which began on October 1, 2018, Border Patrol agents apprehended 432,838 family units. This compares to only 77,794 family units apprehended during the same period in Fiscal Year 2018 — a 456.4 percent increase, officials reported.

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector continues to lead the other nine border patrol sectors in migrant family apprehensions with 45 percent of all apprehensions. Agents in the RGV Sector apprehended 191,768 of the 432,838 FMUA apprehensions in July YTD numbers — up 305 percent from the previous year. The El Paso Sector jumped by 1,510 percent in FY19 with 124,873 FMUA apprehensions and Yuma was third with 50,172 FMUAs — up 367 percent.

Guatemala and Honduras continue to be the biggest supplier of migrant families who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico Border. Agents reported the apprehension of 177,142 Guatemalan migrant families (up from 50,401 during all of FY18) and 171,256 Hondurans (up from 39,439 in all of FY18). Two months remain in FY19 which ends on September 30.

Overall, migrant apprehensions in all categories combined increased 139.4 percent, officials reported. Agents apprehended 317,569 during the first 10 months of FY18. That number rose to 760,370 this year.

From June to July of this year, migrant family apprehensions fell by the highest percentage of the categories. Agents apprehended 57,355 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) in June and 42,566 in July — a decrease of nearly 26 percent. Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) apprehensions fell by 21.38 percent (7,372 to 5,561) and single adult apprehensions fell by 20.9 percent (30,101 to 23,872), the report states.