Numbers of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Rising at U.S.-Mexico Border

Biden administration officials report a concerning increase in the number of unaccompanied migrant children being apprehended after crossing the southwest border with Mexico. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 14,000 unaccompanied minors in May. The numbers continue to rise in June.

Border Patrol agents working the southwest border with Mexico apprehended 14,442 unaccompanied migrant children during the month of May, according to a recently released Southwest Land Border Migration Report. This represents an increase of nearly 22 percent over the previous month and the largest month since July 2021.

Reports from the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services reviewed by Breitbart Texas show the numbers are continuing to increase in June. On June 16, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 500 unaccompanied migrant children bringing the 30-day running average to 407 per day. The number of children held in HHS custody stands at 10,167.

After peaking in July 2021 at 18,954, the number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border fell to 8,751 in January. By March, the number jumped back up to 14,138 and nearly hit 15,000 in May.

From October 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, Border Patrol agents apprehended 98,654 unaccompanied children. This is a jump of nearly 26 percent over the same period in FY21.

A dramatic shift in migrant demographics took place in January 2021 when President Joe Biden took office and changed many of the immigration and border security policies of the Trump administration. In December 2020, President Trump’s last full month in office, agents apprehended less than 5,000 migrant children traveling without a parent or guardian. By February 28, President Biden’s first full month in office, that number jumped to more than 9,400. It doubled the next month to nearly 19,000.

Since February 2021, the Biden administration reported the apprehension of more than 220,000 unaccompanied children — an average of nearly 14,000 per month.