In this July 12, 2014, photo, Central American migrants ride a freight train during their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border in Ixtepec, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
(CNSNews.com) – Statistics posted online by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that the number of “family units” apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico has risen from 9,350 in 2013 to 55,420 in 2014 – an increase of 493 percent.
A spokesperson for the CBP told CNSNews.com that a “family unit” for the purposes of this set of statistics is “a parent traveling with a child,” and that the 55,420 total includes all adults and children who have been apprehended and categorized as a family unit.
The family unit statistics – posted in the same document that provides the number of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) crossing the border – show that the family units come from four countries: El Salvador (10,417), Guatemala (9,004), Honduras (30,368) and Mexico (4,545).
The number of Unaccompanied Alien Children apprehended at the southwest border is up 106 percent, from 27,884 in 2013 to 57,525 in fiscal year 2014 so far (Oct. 1 through June 30), reported the CBP.
According to CBP, the total number of Other Than Mexicans (OTMs) apprehended at the border is 202,951. That number includes both the UACs and family units from countries other than Mexico.
Among the total number of OTMs, 154,606 were apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley port of entry in Texas.