Upwards of 61,000 unaccompanied illegal immigrant children have flooded the U.S. southern border since October, according to the Washington Examiner.
The mass entry of solitary children dwarfs the numbers of previous years, according to the Examiner. The 2018 fiscal year saw 49,100 cross. The current fiscal year tops this number, with still two months remaining before totals are finalized, according to a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report.
“The number of UAC (unaccompanied children) illegally entering the United States during this fiscal year has risen to levels we have never before seen,” Jonathan Hayes, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at DHS, told the Examiner.
No fewer than 11,000 UACs were in custody with HHS in any month throughout the 2019 fiscal year, and a maximum of 14,000 were held in December.
