Illegal border crossings by children and families are surging again and will put fiscal year 2016 on par with 2014, when President Obama was forced to take drastic actions in an effort to stem what his own administration admitted was a humanitarian crisis.

Recently released figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that more than 37,000 border crossers were apprehended in August, nearly 6,000 more than in August 2014.



This year will see fewer overall apprehensions compared to 2014, but still far more than last year. CBP took in 479,000 crossers in 2014, 331,000 in 2015, but now is expected to take in more than 400,000 this year.

A big part of the increase is the growing number of unaccompanied children trying to cross once again. In 2014, 69,000 children were apprehended, a number that fell to 40,000 in 2015 after Obama's efforts to reduce the flow of people.

But this year, the total will be around 60,000, a 50 percent increase compared to last year and close to the crisis year of 2014.

The data show that while fewer children are trying to cross in the summer, apprehensions are now more consistent throughout the year. Last month saw 5,804 child apprehensions, an 85 percent increase from the number seen in August 2014.

By some measures, 2016 will be worse than 2014. The number of people apprehended along with a family member this year has already eclipsed 68,000 people, and by Sept. 30, that number will easily exceed the 68,445 "family unit apprehensions" seen in 2014.

The biggest surge has been through Texas. All the major border sectors in that state have seen increases in apprehensions between 2015 to 2016, and the biggest surges have been seen in the El Paso and Rio Grande sectors.

CBP downplayed the August figures by saying apprehensions are higher than last year, but still lower than 2014, and that officials "continue to closely monitor current migration trends and are working aggressively to address underlying cases and deter unauthorized migration."



But the steadily rising numbers are raising questions about what went wrong with Obama's plan.

Obama's effort was based on cooperation with the home countries of the Central American immigrants, and repeating the message that there's no sanctuary for people who try to cross. In July, Obama tried again by announcing new steps aimed at helping children and families legally migrate to the U.S.

But close observers say border crossers don't appear to be buying into Obama's plan. Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association, says in his recent visit to the border, authorities told him that claims for asylum among border crossers is growing.

"More and more coming across are saying, 'I want asylum,'" he told the Washington Examiner. "So asylum seekers, I believe is a big portion of this increase."

Thompson also thinks CBP is trying to present the data in a way that downplays the increase in child apprehensions over the last two months.

"The department appears to have buried the lead," he said. "The numbers are shocking. I think there's an alarm here. There's something that's motivating the increases in these numbers, whether it's those seeking asylum... or just a surge from other Latin American countries."

While Obama's approach has focused on offering carrots to get migrants to enter the U.S. legally, some say there's still not enough stick. Chris Cabrera, vice president of the U.S. Border Patrol's union, has testified several times before Congress, and continues to advocate tougher penalties for those caught crossing illegally.

"If we don't put severe consequences on them, they are going to continue to re-offend in our country," Cabrera told The Monitor, a news site covering South Texas, in an interview last week. "The reason they crossed over again is simple — it's because they could. They know that we are not secure."



It's not at all clear how CBP or the Obama administration plans to handle the new surge of illegal crossers. CBP on Monday did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

But CBP's statement accompanying the latest figures say border officials are constrained by "limited enforcement resources," and said it wants to ensure that immigrants with "legitimate humanitarian claims are afforded the opportunity to seek protection" in the U.S.

In the meantime, however, those favoring tougher border enforcement worry that CBP's statistics are only telling part of the story. Thompson said he believes that CBP's apprehension data reflects just 60 percent or so of the people are actually crossing the border, and that the other 40 percent are getting away.

That means if the number of CBP apprehensions is rising, the number of illegals slipping through the cracks is also likely rising. He said the uncertainty surrounding just how many people are crossing is a constant frustration for members of his group who deal with the problem first hand every day.

"If you don't know what the total universe of people trying to get here is, how can you say if we're doing better or worse?" he said.