Today Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) reiterated his concern regarding the numbers of apprehensions of family units and unaccompanied minors along our nation’s southern border, both of which increased by more than 100 percent over identical time periods in Fiscal Year 2015 and Fiscal Year 2016 (see here). Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released January numbers noting a 36 percent decrease in apprehensions on our southwest border from December 2015 to January 2016. Below is Congressman Cuellar’s response, and attached is data showing a large increase in such apprehensions over a longer period of time:
“While the number of unaccompanied children and family units apprehended along our southern border in January is down 36 percent from the month before, we should not take this to mean that the overall situation has been solved,” Congressman Cuellar said. “If you look at the overall trajectory of apprehensions along the border over a longer time span, and not just a single month, you will see that that there has been a 171 percent increase in the number of family units apprehended at the border this fiscal year over the same period last fiscal year and a 102 percent increase in the number of unaccompanied children. As someone who has lived in the border region his whole life, I understand the way that our border communities bear the brunt of this increase in apprehensions. Not only have apprehensions increased since FY15, but data from Customs and Border Protection show that drugs continue to flow across our border in large quantities – in FY06, 2.2 million pounds of narcotics were seized, while in FY15, 2.14 million pounds were seized. We must not be lulled into a false sense of security by a one-month decline in apprehensions and need to continue directing resources to improve the situation along the border and in Central America.”
