New data released Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows border agents apprehended 4,448 illegal alien family units at the Southwest U.S. border during the month of March – averaging about 143 family units per day. That number is up significantly from the 3.048 family unit apprehensions reported in February.
Altogether, CBP agents report having apprehended 32,117 illegal alien family units so far in Fiscal Year 2016, which began on Oct. 1 of last year.
The number of apprehensions so far in FY2016 is also 62 percent higher than the 19,830 family units that CBP apprehended during the same time in FY2014, and 131 percent higher than the 13,913 family units they caught in FY2015.
Additionally, CBP apprehended 4,201 unaccompanied children at the Southwest U.S. border last month – an average of nearly 136 kids a day. The agency reports having caught 3,113 unaccompanied minors in February, nearly 1,000 less than in March.
This brings the total number of UACs caught at the border so far in FY2016 to 27,754 – about 80 percent higher than the 15,616 they agency said they apprehended during the same time frame last fiscal year.
In total, CBP reports it made 33,335 total apprehensions at the U.S. border in March. That’s an average of 1,075 apprehensions per day.
Subtracting the number of UACs and family units the agency says they caught last month, this means 24,686 apprehensions were persons who weren’t minors or those coming across with their children.
According to the latest data, CBP reports apprehending 93,778 illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico so far in FY2016.