For the second month in a row the number of illegal aliens apprehended at the border hit the highest number since June 2014, the height of the border surge. 47,214 illegal aliens were apprehended last month a 44% increase from November 2015.

U.S. Officers at legal points of entry reported a 226% increase in the number of children, unaccompanied and with families, in October and November compared to the same two months in 2015.

Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan told Congress last month that it is U.S. policy that is encouraging the surge and that many migrants and smugglers have learned how to game the system. Nearly one in ten border crossers are using what chief Morgan called “magic words” of asylum to bypass the usual deportation procedure and get released quickly.

Once released many of the families and children refuse to show up for their deportation hearings. Unaccompanied children are processed quickly and then sent to other agencies to be placed with sponsors or relatives already in the U.S. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency does hold families, which they say is the best way to ensure the illegal aliens make the deportation hearings.

The CBP has opened up more processing facilities to handle the increase and has taken 150 agents from other offices and sent them to Texas because of the surge. The overwhelming number of families and children has forced agents to focus on taking care of the illegal aliens in custody instead of working to catch drug smugglers and other dangerous criminals that cross the border.

Read more on this story at The Washington Times.