At least 147 unaccompanied children detained by US Border Patrol agents after they are stopped with a group of adults crossing the United States-Mexico border in Arizona
- U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped 197 migrant crossing the United States-Mexico border in southern Arizona on Wednesday
- A total of 147 were identified as unaccompanied minors; most of the children were Guatemalan nationals
- Since the start of fiscal year 2021 - which spans from October 2020 to September 2021 - there have been 95,079 single children detained
- The team in Arizona has stopped 13,667 unaccompanied minors in that stretch
At least 147 unaccompanied minors were caught illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border into southern Arizona, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Border Patrol agents found the children alongside a group of adults and families around 7:15am Wednesday near a stretch of border on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation.
Most were identified as Guatemalan nationals. In all, 197 migrants were taken to a Border Patrol station in Tucson.
Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector encountered 197 migrants on Wednesday morning crossing from Mexico to Arizona via border land located on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said there were 147 unaccompanied children, most of whom were Guatemalan nationals
Since the start of fiscal year 2021 - which spans from October 2020 to September 2021 - there have been 95,079 single children detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the southwestern border. At least 65,411 have been apprehended during the last four months
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It was the second time this week that the team of agents had encountered a group of children traveling alone.
On Monday, agents patrolling the border near Sababe, Arizona, stopped 48 undocumented migrants for unlawful entry.
According to CBP, 39 were unaccompanied migrant minors between 5 and 17. All were processed for entering the U.S. without legal documents.
CBP’s report last month showed that of the 188,829 migrants stopped crossing the border in June 15, 253 were unaccompanied children.
Since the start of fiscal year 2021 - from October 2020 to September 2021 - there have been 95,079 single children detained. But 65,411 were apprehended during the last four months.
A total of 33,239 children were stopped by agents for illegal passage through the southwestern border in all of fiscal year 2020.
DailyMail.com reached out to the Border Patrol team in Arizona for comment.
Of the more than 100 migrants who turned themselves over to U.S. Border Patrol agents on July 8 after crossing the United States-Mexico border Sasabe, Arizona, CBP said over 90 were single minors from Guatemala
Figures released July 16 show 188,829 migrants were encountered at the southwestern border in June, even more than U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded in May
Under the administration of President Joe Biden, unaccompanied minors have been allowed to remain in the U.S. under the Title 42 policy.
However under former President Trump, the measure pushed CBP to immediately remove all migrants, including children, who were intercepted at the southwestern border due to the COVID-19 pandemic without granting an opportunity to request asylum.
The measure was put into place March 21, 2020 by Trump and pushed CBP to immediately remove all migrants, including children. The agency would send adults back to Mexico and the children would be placed in hotels then deported to their home countries.
A young female minor walks over others as they lie inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility in Donna, Texas, on March 30
Under Biden, CBP continues to expel most of the migrant families and single adults, ultimately forcing parents to send their children alone across the border in hopes of joining them later. In other cases, family members already in the U.S. get custody of the children.
Federal guidelines stipulate that children can't be held at facilities past 72 hours after they have been apprehended by the Border Patrol.
The law requires children to be transferred to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is in charge of providing longer-term shelters for the minors.
A United States National Guards member speaks to three unaccompanied children who just arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the United States-Mexico border on a raft into Roma, Texas on July 9
