Apprehension of Lone Minors Down 4% in Tucson, Up in Texas

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Apprehensions of unaccompanied children fell 4 percent in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector in the first nine months of the federal fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported Thursday.

For the same period, they rose in other border areas, especially Texas, the report said.

From Oct. 1 to June 30, agents apprehended 6,945 underage migrants crossing the border without adult relatives in Southern Arizona. That was down from 7,254 apprehended in the same period last fiscal year, the report showed.

Most unaccompanied minors crossing into the U.S illegally during the recent influx were in the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas.

That sector had a 189 percent increase from last year, data showed.

Overall, the report said, 57,525 unaccompanied minors were taken into custody along the U.S.-Mexican border in the nine months, up 106 percent from the same period a year earlier. More than 40,000 were caught in the Rio Grande Valley.

Tucson’s sector, which spans 262 miles of the border, experienced 46 percent more apprehensions of women and children traveling together, what the agency calls “family units.”

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