Report: More immigrant girls illegally crossing southwest border

The number of Central American girls who are getting caught illegally crossing the southwest border has increased substantially this year, according to a new report released this month.

Based on federal records, the Pew Research Center report shows the number of girls who have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border has increased by 77 percent, from 7,339 for the last fiscal year ending on Sept. 30 to 13,008 for this fiscal year through May 31. In contrast, the number of boys has jumped by 8 percent, from 31,420 to 33,924 for the same timeframe.

Most of the girls are coming from Honduras. In all, 5,300 have come from that country this fiscal year compared to 3,792 from El Salvador, 2,699 from Guatemala and 911 from Mexico.

On Thursday, Gov. Nathan Deal fired off a sharp letter to President Barack Obama, saying he was shocked to learn federal authorities have released 1,154 unaccompanied immigrant children to the care of sponsors living in Georgia.

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