140 Migrants Including 80 Unaccompanied Minors Dumped in Arizona Desert near Border

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 140 mostly Guatemalan migrants after human smugglers put them into the Arizona desert. The group included more than 80 unaccompanied children.

Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin tweeted a photo showing a large group of migrants being apprehended at the Arizona border with Mexico on August 18. The photo shows the illegal border crossing occurred where no physical barrier to pedestrian crossings is in place. The border consists only of a vehicle barrier.

Modlin said the agents apprehended more than 140 migrants. The mostly Guatemalan migrants included more than 80 unaccompanied minors who can be seen gathered on the left side of the photo.

In July, Tucson Sector agents apprehended nearly 18,000 migrants — an increase of more than 220 percent over the same month in 2020. Those apprehensions included 14,262 single adults (up 184 percent), 1,715 Family Unit Aliens (up 837 percent), and 2,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (up 408 percent), according to the latest Southwest Land Border Encounters report recently released by CBP officials.

Since the beginning of Fiscal Year 21, which began on October 1, 2020, Tucson Sector agents apprehended 156,756 migrants (a 208 percent increase over the same period in FY2020). Those apprehensions included 132,312 single adults (up 271 percent), 9,937 Family Unit Aliens (down 4.7 percent), and 14,507 Unaccompanied Alien Children (up 198 percent).

These figures make the Tucson Sector the third busiest sector in terms of migrant apprehensions after illegal crossings between ports of entry. The Rio Grande Valley Sector leads the nine southwest border sectors is more than 412,000 apprehensions. This is followed by the Del Rio Sector’s record of 182,593 apprehensions. El Paso falls to fourth place with 155,882 apprehensions so far this year.