unaccompanied migrant children border crossings Texas are rising in key regions, highlighting ongoing migration pressures, smuggling routes, and the strain on U.S. child welfare and immigration systems.
Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children continue crossing the border from Mexico, with the highest numbers heading into South Texas since the start of this fiscal year, a data analysis by Border Report found.
US Customs and Border Protection data for February shows Border Patrol agents encountered and took into custody more unaccompanied minors in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of any sector along the Southwest border.
Since the start of Fiscal Year 2026 in October, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has had five consecutive months of leading the nation with the number of unaccompanied migrants crossing the Rio Grande into the region, data shows. Agents encountered a total of 2,958 unaccompanied migrant children along the entire Southwest border since the start of the fiscal year.
There were 142 unaccompanied migrant children encountered in February in the RGV Sector, according to CBP data released Friday.
The RGV Sector had a total of 1,377 migrants encountered in February, which was the most of any of the nine sectors on the Southwest border, CBP reports. This was the fourth consecutive month that the RGV Sector has led the nation with migrant apprehensions, data shows.
Since Fiscal Year 2026 began in October, there have been 7,213 migrants encountered in the RGV Sector by Border Patrol agents, including a total of 873 unaccompanied children, which the agency lists as “unaccompanied alien children” or UAC, CBP data shows.
Since Fiscal Year 2026 began in October, there have been 7,213 migrants encountered in the RGV Sector by Border Patrol agents, including a total of 873 unaccompanied children, which the agency lists as “unaccompanied alien children” or UAC, CBP data shows.
The Tucson Sector in Arizona had the third-most monthly migrant encounters in February, with 1,021, but had only 56 unaccompanied minors crossing there from Mexico, CBP says.
The number of unaccompanied minors encountered in the RGV Sector far exceeds the fewer than 400 families encountered by Border Patrol agents in the sector since October, data shows.
This region has long led the nation in an area where transnational criminal organizations tend to send unaccompanied children across the Rio Grande, either from Reynosa, Mexico, into Hidalgo, Texas, or from Matamoros, Mexico, into Brownsville, Texas.
Because the river meanders in this region, experts say, rafts and boats can hide along the shorelines and make it across the river to the U.S. side relatively quickly, allowing migrants to climb up muddy embankments and then try to get lost in the brush and get to roadways for pickup once in South Texas.
Unaccompanied migrant children are processed by CBP and then sent to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Settlement. The Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau manages the children’s welfare when “there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody,” according to the agency’s website.
The number of unaccompanied migrant children encountered at the border remains significantly lower than it was during the previous administration. During President Joe Biden’s last two full calendar years in office, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered 238,914 unaccompanied migrant children at the border.
DHS Requests Access to Legally Restricted Child-Support Records Database
