Nearly 300 migrant children traveling alone are arrested after crossing into Arizona as flood of unaccompanied kids continues to swamp the border
Nearly 300 children traveling alone surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents during a 24-hour period near the United States-Mexico border in Arizona over the weekend.
The unaccompanied minors were part of four separate groups of more than 400 migrants who were taken into custody by agents assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Center, according to Interim Chief Agent John R. Modlin, who tweeted images of the adults and children Saturday.
The Tucson Sector, responsible for coverage of 262 border miles from the New Mexico state line to the Yuma County line in Arizona, has encountered 12,422 single minors between last October 2020 and June.
Sector border officers also arrested 100 unaccompanied children from Guatemala and Honduras on July 27 and reported that more than half of the 45 migrants who voluntarily gave themselves up the morning of July 29 were children traveling alone.
The majority of the reported arrests came between February and June when border agents detained 9,046 children.
Pictured are some of the 280 children who were stopped by agents assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Center during a 24-hour period last week, according to Interim Chief Agent John R. Modlin
John R. Modlin, Interim Chief Agent for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Center, tweeted Saturday that more than 280 children surrendered during four separate incidents that took place during a 24-hour period last week
The U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector is responsible for the coverage of 262 border miles from the New Mexico state line to the Yuma County line. It has encountered 12,422 single minors between October 2020 and June 2021
The latest southwestern border incident involving children who were sent alone by their parents on the perilous trek came after U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that 834 unaccompanied children and teenagers were apprehended Thursday.
Currently, there are at least 2,784 children in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody. Another 14,523 are in HHS custody.
Preliminary CBP border data for July shows that an all-time high of more that 19,000 unaccompanied children were stopped along the 1,954-mile-long southwestern border for unlawful entry, according to The Associated Press. A total of 15,253 minors traveling by themselves were apprehended just in June.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told DailyMail.com that a new monthly report for southwestern border encounters is scheduled to be released Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Out of the 155 migrants who surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Tucson Sector on July 27, more than 100 unaccompanied children were from Guatemala and Honduras
Pictured are some of the minors who were sent alone to the United States via the border with Mexico and surrendered to Tucson Sector border agents on July 29
Under the administration of President Joe Biden, unaccompanied migrant children have been allowed to remain in the United States. CBP has transferred them over to HHS, which then works to release the minors to sponsors, a family member or their parents, who are in the country illegally or legally.
The practice was uncommon during the administration of his predecessor, President Donald Trump, who expelled single adults, families and children under the Title 42 policy that is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBC News on Friday obtained a document from U.S. Department of Homeland Security showing that 20 percent of unaccompanied minors tested positive for the coronavirus after they were transferred from CBP custody.
The report also showed that more than 18 percent of migrant families drew positive tests for COVID-19 after they were moved by CBP to ICE, HHS or other agencies.
According to a DHS memo, more than 25 percent of passengers tested positive for the ravaging virus before they boarded deportation flights. ICE was forced to remove the migrants and place them in quarantine.