SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Unlawful border crossings by migrants in the San Diego Sector are up according to July statistics released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The agency breaks down figures into three main categories: Single adults, family units and unaccompanied children and minors.
All three showed an increase for the month of July when compared to the previous month.
Single males encountered in July was 11,574, up from 10,208 in June.
Family units were also up from 2,393 in June to 3,128 in July.
The number of unaccompanied children and minors rose from 301 in June to 332 in July.
According to the figures, roughly 28 percent of the unlawful migrants encountered by agents in the San Diego Sector were from Mexico.
Overall, the region between San Diego and Tijuana has seen a 27-percent increase in the number of migrant encounters when compared to the same time last year.
Enrique Lucero, director of the migrant affairs office in Tijuana, said the rise can be attributed to more smugglers working along the border.
“There’s also just people who know where the gaps are along the border fence are located,” said Lucero. “These individuals show up at shelters to try and convince migrants to cross the border, it’s very tempting when the border barriers are just a few blocks away.”
Lucero stated migrants are still using the tactic of getting over the first barrier and then waiting to be picked up by Border Patrol agents.
“Sometimes, they have to wait for days to get picked up, but they have been misled, this is not going to get them asylum,” said Lucero. “There’s also a lot of wrong information out there about families getting priority for asylum, it’s false, it’s not that easy.”
