Border apprehensions jumped 31 percent in May after a six-month decline since President Trump's election. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports agents apprehended 14,500 illegal aliens along the Mexico border in May -- up from 11,000 in April.
The number of Unaccompanied Alien Children jumped a 50 percent from April to May, while the number of family units taken into custody jumped by 41 percent during that same time.
At least one agent believes distractions on Capitol Hill have slowed progress on the president's proposed border wall, and illegal aliens are taking advantage.
“Little by little the 'catch and release,' the unaccompanied and family units have started to creep back in and become a steady staple of our apprehensions,” says Chris Cabrera at the National Border Patrol Council.
“Folks are still coming over and they're realizing that a lot of it was rhetoric and all of the pieces haven't been put fully in place or it hasn't been completed, so people are realizing the system is not 100 percent fixed and they're going to take advantage of it,” he says.
Cabrera says the union still supports the president, but the people he put in place so far have dropped the ball.
“I think we're moving in the right direction as far as the patrol is concerned, however there are some things that have not been accomplished and I think we need to figure out who is in charge of that particular aspect and hold them accountable,” he says.