The apprehension of migrant families illegally crossing the border from Mexico in November fell by nearly 90 percent from the peak in May. Border Patrol officials cited closed loopholes in immigration and asylum laws as having a direct impact on the reduction of illegal border crossings by migrant families.

The apprehension of migrants by Border Patrol agents following illegal border crossings fell from a high of 84,486 in May to only 9,000 in November, according to information obtained from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Southwest Border Migration Report released on Monday morning.

The apprehensions are also down significantly from November 2018 when agents apprehended more than 25,000 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA), CBP reports reveal.

“Why are the numbers dropping so drastically?” CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan asked during a Monday press conference. “Because we have all but ended Catch-and-Release. If you are a family from the northern triangle countries, you are no longer released into the interior of the United States simply because you have a child.”

“Coming to our borders, illegally entering, filing false claims with a child is no longer your automatic passport into the United States,” Morgan said emphatically. “You will no longer be allowed into this country often never to be heard from again.”

“Those loopholes have been closed,” the commissioner stated flatly. “[The smugglers] are lying to you. The era of Catch-and-Release is done. Coming to this country with a child is no longer going to be a passport into the United States — that is done.”

The apprehension of Unaccompanied Alien Children is also down from this time last year, the reports indicate. Agents apprehended 3,321 UACs in November 2019. This is down from 5.257 in November 2018. This represents a decrease of about 36 percent.

“Back in the height of May, we had about 2,700 UACs in custody,” Morgan told reporters Monday. “Now we fluctuate between 100 and 200. The UACs have remained fairly constant over the last six to eight months but if you look at the stats from this time last year, we’re seeing a significant decrease.”