WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2018) US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents along the US border with Mexico in Texas on early Tuesday morning apprehended 170 undocumented immigrants made up of families and unaccompanied children, CBP said in a press release.
"Early this morning, US Border Patrol agents assigned to the McAllen station encountered 170 illegal aliens comprised of family units and unaccompanied children," the release said on Tuesday. "Just after midnight, the group of 170 smuggled illegal aliens sought the first Border Patrol agents they could find to turn themselves in."
The apprehension required the local border patrol post to allocate its limited resources to the location to transport the group, which smugglers used as an advantage to cross over multiple other groups, the release said.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the number of immigrant families apprehended for illegal entry at the US-Mexico border increased by 38 percent in August compared to July, which is 3,500 more.
Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tyler Houlton said the substantial increase is an indicator that the migration flows are responding to gaps in the US legal framework.
The Trump administration earlier this month proposed a regulation to end a legal agreement that prevents the US Federal government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days.
Trump was forced to issue an order to halt family separations at the border after viral images of children locked in cages drew criticism domestically and internationally. As a result of the administration's zero-tolerance policy for illegal immigration, about 2,600 children were separated from their parents this spring after being apprehended for illegally entering the United States.
