Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 500 migrants after they illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the Arizona desert. The apprehensions included one large group of 136 migrants.
Yuma Sector Chief Patrol Agent Chris Clem tweeted photos showing large groups of migrants crossing the border in areas with outdated border barriers. One group, observed by camera operations, consisted of 136 migrants who simply walked across the unsecured border and waited for agents.
The large group of 136 migrants began a long weekend of migrant apprehensions that would see nearly 500 migrants being taken into custody by Monday.
Clem said the groups ranged in size from 59 to 81. He did not disclose the nationalities of the migrants. In addition to the group of 136 migrants, agents found a group of 49 on Friday, 81 and 71 on Saturday, 78 on Sunday, and 71 on Monday.
As of July 31, the most recent statistics available from CBP, Yuma Sector Agents apprehended nearly 18,000 migrants. Of those, officials classified 5,320 as Single Adults, 8,649 Family Unit Aliens, and 811 as Unaccompanied Alien Children.
Most significantly was the increase in apprehension of family units. The apprehension of the nearly 9,000 migrants represents an increase of 8,909 percent over the previous July.
The August Southwest Border Land Encounters report is expected to show a continuation in the increases in border apprehensions by Border Patrol agents. That report is due out this week.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.