U.S. Border Patrol arrests increased during fiscal year 2016, helped along by Central Americans attempting to enter the United States illegally through Mexico, according to a report out Friday.
Border apprehensions jumped to 415,816 during the 12-month period ended Sept. 30 from 337,117 during the same period a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Central Americans crossing the U.S./Mexico border illegally helped drive the 23 percent increase in U.S. Border Patrol arrests during 2016, according to the DHS.
” … the demographics of illegal migration on our southern border have changed significantly over the last 15 years – far fewer Mexicans and single adults are attempting to cross the border without authorization, but more families and unaccompanied children are fleeing poverty and violence in Central America,” the report stated.
Many of the families and unaccompanied children were from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Still, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said that while the 2016 border apprehensions did increase in 2016, the numbers are down.
The arrests represent “a fraction of the number of apprehensions routinely observed from the 1980s through 2008,” he said.
Click to read the DHS summary that includes links to reports.
