US

Group Of 170 Unaccompanied Illegal Immigrant Children And Families Turn Themselves In To Border Patrol Agents

REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Neetu Arnold Contributor
Font Size:

A group of 170 unaccompanied illegal immigrant children and families turned themselves in to Border Patrol officials in Texas on Tuesday.

The smuggled group sought the first agents they could find after midnight, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported Tuesday. The illegal immigrants are being processed by Border Patrol officials.

“As agents prepared the group for transport, the criminal organizations took advantage of the limited resources and simultaneously attempted to smuggle multiple other groups whom actively attempted to evade apprehension,” according to CBP.

A combined total of over 16,000 unaccompanied youth and people traveling in family units were either detained along the southwest border or were deemed inadmissible at entry ports in August, according to CBP figures released Sept. 12. Family unit apprehensions were 38 percent higher than in July.

“Smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better than most and know that if a family unit illegally enters the U.S. they are likely to be released into the interior,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman Tyler Houlton said in a statement, The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. (RELATED: Illegal Immigration By Family Units Surges To Highest-Ever August Total)

The 1997 Flores Settlement, a federal court order that laid the foundation for immigration detention, requires children accompanying families entering the U.S. illegally to be released within 20 days of apprehension, TheDCNF reported.

CBP did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment in time for press.

Follow Neetu on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.