A recent Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report shows that illegal border crossings surged 10% in August countering the usual decrease in crossings due to the hot temperatures. This puts the agency on track to break the 2014 record of family unit apprehensions.
According to the CBP, 9,359 family units were apprehended at the southern border in August bringing the total to 68,080 for FY16. This is nearing the FY14 record of 68,445 family unit apprehensions, when the border surge was at its highest. With one more month to go in the 2016 fiscal year the agency will likely surpass the FY14 record.
Total illegal border crossings already exceeded FY15 numbers in July.
In the report DHS officials cited lack of resources and the Obama administration’s Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) program, which altered enforcement priorities, for the backslide.
“DHS and its components continue to enforce U.S. immigration laws and to do so consistent with our enforcement priorities, which were revised as part of the president’s executive actions in November 2014,” the department said in a statement posted along with the new numbers. “These priorities more sharply focus our limited enforcement resources on public safety and border security.”
PEP limits ICE officers by focusing them only on deportable criminal aliens at the exclusion of other deportable aliens who were formerly priorities. However, even criminal alien deportations have decreased under Pres. Obama’s program. According to ICE in 2015 alone 60% of all criminal aliens were released because PEP puts the focus only on criminal aliens who pose a “serious” threat.
Read more on this story at The Washington Times.
