![]() ![]() ![]() Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told us that 2014 was not only the first time there was a dramatic increase in unaccompanied children, but migrants also came from Central America, not Mexico. The number of unaccompanied children being apprehended at the southern border did start trending up in October, but also jumped 63% from January to February, when the total was 9,297.Īs Payan said, the issue started in 2014, and it has been a problem for each administration. ![]() 30, the total dropped considerably to 30,557.Īt just five months into this fiscal year, the number is already at 29,010. In fiscal year 2019, the number of unaccompanied children who were apprehended - 76,020 - surpassed 2014’s total, a new yearly record. Since FY2014, UAC apprehensions have fluctuated considerably, declining to 39,970 in FY2015, increasing to 59,692 in FY2016, declining to 41,435 in FY2017, and increasing to 50,036 in FY2018.” The recent numbers are on track to rival or surpass the spike of unaccompanied children apprehended in 2019.Ī report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service sums up the trends in what the government calls UAC - “unaccompanied alien children” - this way: “In FY2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 68,541 UAC, a record at that time. How does this increase in unaccompanied children crossing the border compare with past increases? policy, such as deteriorating economic, political or public safety conditions. The numbers seem to go up and down on a logic of their own.” People leave their home countries for reasons other than U.S. Overall, Payan said, “The patterns of migration do not seem to correlate to any specific U.S. Other immigration experts, writing in the Washington Post, agree that “the current increase in apprehensions fits a predictable pattern of seasonal changes in undocumented immigration combined with a backlog of demand because of 2020’s coronavirus border closure.” It’s “not a surge,” they said. In a phone interview, he told us that while the apprehension numbers are spiking now, “this is not a new crisis.” Instead, it has been going on since 2014, “when we first saw unaccompanied minors and family units arriving at the border and turning themselves in,” and the problem has plagued each administration since.Īs the chart above shows, apprehension spikes under the past two presidents in 20 similarly included sizable increases in family units and unaccompanied children arriving at the border. Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, wrote in a March 15 blog post that “the current situation at the border is neither a unique crisis nor the result (yet) of Biden’s policy changes.” Here’s a breakdown of the type of apprehensions by month - for single adults, unaccompanied children and those traveling in a family unit - dating back to 2013, the earliest point of data for family units. While the bulk of the increase comes from single adults, the number of children arriving at the border without an adult has gone up as well. By October, 69,022 people were apprehended on the southwest border, up 79% from July. ![]() But then, apprehensions started ticking up again, increasing noticeably in late summer and fall. On a monthly basis over the past year, apprehensions plummeted to 16,182 in April 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic and economic shutdowns gripped both the U.S. In 2017, apprehensions hit the lowest level since 1972, but they spiked in fiscal year 2019 at 851,508 and fell back down to 400,651 in fiscal 2020. Let’s start with a look at the big picture: Apprehensions on the southwest border peaked in 2000 at 1.64 million and have generally declined since, with some fluctuations. How many people are trying to cross the border illegally? We’ll take a look at the immigration statistics and facts behind the recent increase. The unaccompanied children are being held in custody in large numbers while the administration tries to catch up with a backlog in housing and processing them. But the increase in unaccompanied children has spiked significantly in the first full month of the Biden administration. A rise in border apprehensions did begin prior to the election under then-President Donald Trump. While Democrats argue the surge began before President Joe Biden took office, Republicans argue Biden’s welcoming policies are to blame. Democrats and Republicans are pointing fingers over an increase in illegal immigration at the southern border, and notably an increase in children traveling alone. ![]()
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