Federal immigration authorities are apprehending substantially fewer children who are illegally crossing the southwest border without their parents, according to figures released by the Obama administration late Thursday.
Last month, authorities caught 5,508 of them, a 48 percent decrease from the 10,628 that were apprehended in June. During the same time frame, the number of adults with children who were apprehended dropped by 55 percent to 7,410.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said those trends have continued this month.
“While the decrease in apprehensions in July is good news and reflects a positive trend that we hope continues,” Johnson said in a prepared statement, “the current numbers are still higher than the number of apprehensions for children and adults with children during past years.”
“We continue to have much work to do to address this issue and our message continues to be clear: ‘Our border is not open to illegal migration.’ Unless you qualify for some form of humanitarian relief, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values.”
Last month, the federal government disclosed it had transferred 1,154 of the unaccompanied children to the care of sponsors in Georgia. That prompted an angry letter from Gov. Nathan Deal to President Barack Obama. A Republican running for reelection, Deal later softened his tone at a meeting his administration set up with Hispanic community leaders at the state Capitol.
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