Apprehensions of people attempting to illegally enter the United States from Mexico spiked in August after a brief downturn earlier this summer, according to government data released Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol agents arrested or turned back 46,560 people between and at ports of entry on the southwest border last month.
Of that number, 37,544 were people who went around official checkpoints and were caught unlawfully in the U.S. shortly after trespassing.
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Slightly more than 40,000 people were either apprehended between or turned away at ports of entry in July, down from springtime totals of more than 50,000 each month.
July numbers were up 56 percent compared with last July, when the “Trump effect” on illegal immigration lowered rates to a 45-year low soon after he was elected.
Illegal border traffic increased 20 percent between fiscal year 2018, which runs Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, compared with the previous year.
Department of Homeland Security press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said part of the reason for this month’s spike was a dramatic uptick in families illegally entering the U.S. from Central America.
Of the more than 37,000 people apprehended, one-third — or 12,774 — were families. Another 4,396 were children 17 or younger. CBP does not share how many of these groups were deported or waived into the country to later face immigration proceedings for asylum.
“While the overall numbers are consistent with an expected seasonal increase, the number of family units along the Southwest border increased 38 percent – 3,500 more than July and the highest August on record,” Houlton said in a statement. “Smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better than most and know that if a family unit illegally enters the U.S. they are likely to be released into the interior.”
