WASHINGTON: The number of migrants detained entering the United States from Mexico without documents in April topped 100,000 for the second month in a row, US border officials said Wednesday, reports AFP.                     

“Our apprehension numbers are off the charts compared to recent years,” Carla Provost, the chief of the US Border Patrol, told a Senate hearing on border security.

“As of Sunday, only seven months into the (fiscal) year, we have now surpassed the total southwest border apprehensions of every fiscal year since 2009,” she said.

In April, 109,144 migrants were apprehended or deemed inadmissible at the US-Mexico border, according to US Customs and Border Protection figures, up from 103,719 in March. In February, the total was 76,534.

Provost said border officials were picking up increasing numbers of families and unaccompanied children trying to cross into the United States from Mexico.

“The number of family units and unaccompanied children has skyrocketed to 64 percent of southern border apprehensions,” she said. 

“These populations present significant challenges,” the US border chief said.