Border security

Border security slips as illegal immigration rises significantly over past year

Nearly 409,000 illegal immigrants were nabbed at the border in fiscal year 2016 — up from about 331,000 a year earlier — and Homeland Security officials say the increased arrests also mean an increase in the number that are sneaking by them.

Worse yet, the number of illegal immigrants traveling as families, fleeing rough conditions in Central America and enticed by the promise of lax enforcement in the United States, reached a record high of 77,674. Unaccompanied minors — those children traveling without their parents — also rose to nearly 60,000, though that was still shy of the record set in 2014.

“Unaccompanied children and families have presented new challenges in our immigration system,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement announcing the numbers.