WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) The number of apprehensions of migrant families this September marks the highest ever recorded by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a senior US administration official told reporters in a conference call.
"The total number of family units CBP apprehended [in September] 20,120," the official said on Tuesday. "It brought us to 161,113 for the year... this is the highest September ever for Border Patrol apprehensions of family units."
The official said there has been a steady increase of unaccompanied children and family units compared to adults since 2000 and the trend indicates there is a border crisis.
The new statistics were released as a caravan of more than 7,000 immigrants is making its way through Mexico toward the United States to seek asylum.
The official said the United States is evaluating its options for responding to the migrant Caravan making its way to the US southern border.
The US is pressing Mexico to halt the caravan, which the UN estimates includes more than 7,000 asylum-seekers, before the group reaches the US border.
President Donald Trump has vowed to cut off US aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala over their failure to stop migrants from leaving their countries to come illegally to the United States.
The caravan consists mainly of Honduran immigrants although published reports indicate that a second US-bound caravan is now forming in El Salvador.
