The number of people apprehended by Border Patrol and other immigration officers has increased by nearly 50 percent; many of these detainees are coming from Central America, rushed out of fear of borders being closed and the construction of the wall, as  promised by the now President-elect during his campaign.

Federal agencies in San Diego are already seeing an impact, as they have had to rotate 25 officers per month to the southern border to beef up presence at locations seriously impacted by said increase, such as the Texas border.

“The Rio Grande Valley Sector has seen many arrests, not just of adults, but also unaccompanied minors. Our Border Patrol Sector is coordinating the deployment of additional officers, who are being supported not just by the San Diego Sector, but also Tucson and Del Rio,” said San Diego Border Patrol spokesperson Wendi Lee.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has also recorded increases in the past fiscal year at the Texas border, sparked to a great extent by the violence and poverty Central America is going through. In fact, Central American detainees  have surpasses Mexican detainees as far as the number of undocumented crossings into the United States.

During the 2016 fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has apprehended a total of 59,692 minors while attempting to enter the U.S., 19,722 more than in the 2015 fiscal year, and 77,674 immigrants traveling in family groups, in comparison to 39,838 the previous year.

Similar increases have also been noticed in San Diego.

“Here in San Diego we have also seen an increase just like in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s been around 50 percent in the past two months, which are the first two in the 2017 fiscal year, in comparison to the 2016 fiscal year,” reported San Diego Border Patrol Agent and Communications Officer Eduardo Olmos.

Border Patrol feels confident that, in spite of the new strategy and the continuous rotation of officer to Texas, the more than 56 miles of border with Baja California will continue to be safe thanks to the 2,400 agents protecting the border with Mexico.

“Sending these 25 Border Patrol agents to support the mission in Rio Grande will not affect what we are doing in San Diego, the men and women of our department will work 24/7 to support and protect our nation’s borders… sure, we are having increases, but we also have seen an increase in apprehensions,” added Wendi Lee.