Arizona border patrol apprehends 88 migrants, mostly unaccompanied children: agent

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Border agents in Arizona apprehended over 70 unaccompanied migrant children on Tuesday – stoking fears about the threat of human trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents encountered the group near Sasabe, Arizona – a hamlet mere steps from the southern border. The party was made up of mostly Guatemalan nationals. 

The group included 88 people, seven of which were adults. Of the 81 children apprehended, 71 were unaccompanied by parents or guardians.

The large encounter was announced by chief border patrol agent John Modlin on Twitter.

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Arizona border patrol agents apprehended 81 migrant children on Tuesday - 71 were unaccompanied.  (@USBPChiefTCA via Twitter)

"Smugglers continue to cross large groups of children along the #SouthwestBorder," Modlin wrote on Twitter.

The border crisis has intensified over the past year, as massive groups of migrants are apprehended at the border in record amounts. Border patrol numbers state that more than 1.6 million encounters took place in fiscal year 2021, the highest number ever recorded.

Young unaccompanied migrants, wait for their turn at the secondary processing station inside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in March 2021.  (AP)

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The surge in migrants often leads to an increase in traffickers and drug smugglers seeking to take advantage of asylum-seekers – making the journey extremely unsafe for children.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent monitors single-adult male detainees at Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, U.S. July 12, 2019.   (REUTERS/Veronica G. Cardenas//File Photo)

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The encounter was reported in the wake of the Biden administration motioning to end the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy on Monday. The Department of Homeland Security said the policy – which required asylum-seekers to stand-by in Mexico for U.S. immigration court hearings – will end "in a quick, and orderly manner."