The number of illegal aliens apprehended and determined to be inadmissible along the southwest border with Mexico rose again in December. The figures exceed those under President Barrack Obama in the months leading up to the surge of unaccompanied minors and families in 2014. The number of families apprehended in December 2017 rose 15 percent over the previous month.

After falling to historically low rates in March and April 2017, the number of apprehensions began rising for seven consecutive months. In December 2017, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 30,000 between the ports of entry, according to a report published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Tuesday morning.

The number of apprehensions is lower than one year ago when migrants rushed ahead of the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Breitbart Texas reported. In December 2016, agents apprehended 43,375 who crossed the border illegally. In 2017, that number fell to 28,996.

In June 2014, Breitbart Texas’ Brandon Darby published a series of photographs from the federal government, showing massive numbers of unaccompanied minors being warehoused in shoddy detention facilities. The revelation of these images swept across the globe and arguably changed the political discussion of border security in America.

In December 2013, the number of migrants apprehended and determined to be inadmissible rose to 36,695. In the months leading up to the June 2014 report, those numbers would increase to 66,541. That number in December 2017 rose to 40,513, an increase of 3,818 over the same month in 2013.

The number of apprehensions in December 2017 fell slightly compared to the previous month. Agents apprehended 29,082 in November. The December apprehensions reflect a 0.3 percent decrease from the prior month.

However, the numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) continue to rise. UAC apprehensions rose from 3,990 in November to 4,083 in December. FMUA apprehensions rose from 7,015 to 8,121 over the same period.

“The general consensus among border patrol and other experts is that the numbers have rebounded because of the court-imposed catch and release policy, whereby a rogue federal judge decided that all illegally arriving minors have to be released, even if they are with their parents,” Center for Immigration Studies Policy Director Jessica Vaughan told Breitbart Texas on Tuesday.

Vaughan added:

Basically, the smugglers have figured out that illegal crossers with kids will be detained briefly and then allowed to stay indefinitely, whether they try to claim asylum or just join the larger illegal population. It’s a great service to sell, and there’s a huge market, and so they keep getting richer off of this illicit trade, until Congress steps in or until the Trump administration figures out a way around this problem. But the cost to American communities that have to accommodate these new arrivals is getting to be astronomical – not only the cost for schools, health care and welfare services, but also the cost in public safety, because MS-13 and other gangs have figured out how to game the system too. They have boosted their numbers and gone on a crime and killing spree that is unprecedented in places where they are settling.

The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas continues to lead the eight other sectors of the southwestern border with Mexico in terms of the apprehension of UACs and FMUAs. The sector accounts for 46 and 61 percent respectively of the number of apprehensions in Fiscal Year 2018 year-to-date figures.

The UACs are reported to be coming from Guatemala (5,697), Mexico (2,433), Honduras (1,740), and El Salvador (993). Guatemala also leads the list of countries sending FMUAs to the U.S. with 10,650 in the first three months of FY2018. This is followed by Honduras (5,545), El Salvador (3,136), and Mexico (481).

The increase in family apprehensions in December came as the Trump Administration discussed the implementation of a policy to protect these children being put in danger by their family members, Breitbart Texas reported.

“It’s cruel for parents to place the lives of their children in the hands of transnational criminal organizations and smugglers who have zero respect for human life and often abuse or abandon children,” Acting DHS Press Secretary Tyler Houlton said in a written statement in December. She explained the administration is committed to exploring “all possible measures” to protect children.

Vaughan explained, “in the absence of Congressional action to supersede the court, ICE seems to think it has no choice but to start cracking down on this practice. Separating the children from their parents is not ideal, but we have to remember that this is a choice the parents have made, it’s part of a criminal enterprise, and the alternative of simply releasing the kids has been a disaster for American communities.”

“Those who find this objectionable should get behind the legislation pending from the House Judiciary Committee that would give the government more flexibility to handle the problem in a way that is more appropriate and will be more effective,” she stated.

Breitbart Texas has reported frequently on children and minors who are abandoned by their smugglers and left to die in the fields of South Texas and deserts of southern Arizona.