• 539,560 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended since 2021
• 287,286 apprehensions took place between 2015 and 2020
• Minors are released to the Office of Refugee Resettlment

Jeff Arnold, Ali BradleyUpdated: DEC 4, 2024 / 10:07 AM CST

(NewsNation) — The number of unaccompanied children apprehended by federal immigration agents at the U.S.-Mexico border has nearly doubled from previous years during Joe Biden’s presidency, according to data released by federal immigration officials.

Nearly 540,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the southern border since Biden took office in 2021, according to the data. That compares to 287,276 unaccompanied children who were taken into custody in the previous six fiscal years combined between 2015 and 2020.

The number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. illegally since the migrant crisis began was a central focus of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have pledged to start mass deportations soon after Trump takes office in January.Migrants nervous over Trump plans for mass deportations 

The focus on unaccompanied minors entering the U.S. has continued this month after federal officials reported more than 100 children have entered the U.S. illegally since November 24. That includes a 4-year-old girl from Honduras who was found alone at the border by immigration officials. 

NewsNation reported on Tuesday that border officials reported that more than 315 unaccompanied children were apprehended by immigration agents along the southern on Monday alone, including 82 in the Rio Grande River Texas sector and 77 in Del Rio sector. 

“I want the American people to see the impacts of this current border situation that we’ve been in for the last three plus years, and how it impacts unaccompanied children are coming across that border,” Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez told “NewsNation Prime” this week.

Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protectionreport that since 2021, a total of 539,560 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the border. Of those minors, 447,969 – or 83% of those who were apprehended – were released to sponsors. When a child is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and is apprehended by immigration agents, the minor is released to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Federal law requires that the agency provides shelter, food, and medical care for unaccompanied children until the department can release them to sponsors, which is usually a family member, the agency said. The sponsor must also ensure that the child reports to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal from the United States if a judge so orders.

Thaddeus Cleveland, the sheriff in Terrell County, Texas, told NewsNation on Wednesday that many of the unoccupied children are crossing into the United States to be reunited with their parents. In many cases, Cleveland said that the children were left with other family members in Mexico or Central America while their parents sought a better life in the U.S.

Former Homeland Security Investigations agent Victor Avila told NewsNation that cartels accept children from parents as ransom payments and then send them to the border alone with handwritten notes. Cleveland said Wednesday that the surge has continued in recent weeks due to the shortage of time before Trump takes office and tightens enforcement along the border.

The agency said that the Department of Health and Human Services is engaging with state officials about concerns they may have about the care of unaccompanied children released to sponsors. In Fiscal Year 2024, data shows that the largest number of children were released to sponsors in California (10,819), Florida (9,487), and New York (6.956).

The number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border was the lowest in Fiscal Year 2024 since 2021. A total of 109,998 minors were apprehended with 99,381 being released to sponsors. The number of minors who were not with a parent or legal guardian at the border spiked in 2022 when 152,057 apprehensions were reported by federal officials.

However, that is dramatically higher than the number of apprehensions that were reported in 2020 — Trump’s final year in office — when just 19,657 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the border, CBP data shows. The apprehensions of minors not with a parent or guardian were significantly lower than in 2019 when 76,136 unaccompanied minors were apprehended by federal officials.

In 2020 – just weeks after Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election – a federal judge ordered that Trump’s administration could not continue its practice of immediately deporting unaccompanied children without due process. The Texas Tribune reported the administration had been deporting children since March 2020, when it invoked a Title 42 order, which allows migrants to be sent back across the southern border as a way of containing the spread of COVID-19.