ACCORDING to US Customs and Border Protection data, nearly 5,000 unaccompanied immigrant children were caught crossing the US border with Mexico in October of this year, almost double the number from last year.

In the figures released Tuesday, Nov. 24, the number of family members crossing together nearly tripled from October 2014, from 2,162 to 6,029.

Despite expectations of lower numbers due to the colder winter months, a stronger law enforcement along the border, and efforts by Mexican authorities to stem the stream of Central American migrants, the number of fleeing minors along with their families has grown tremendously.

Though tens of thousands of women and children from Central America were caught at the border during summer 2014, that number had dropped by nearly half during the 2015 federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to Fox News.

“The 4,973 unaccompanied children who were caught at the border last month is the highest number that Washington, D.C.-based think tank Washington Office on Latin America has recorded for October since their records began in 2009,” said Adam Isacson, a border expert and senior analyst.

“The high numbers buck the typical trends of crossings peaking in spring then declining through summer and fall,” Isacson said. However, an uptick in families and children crossing in July has caused numbers to stay at over 4,000 each month since.

“Rather than a big jump, it’s been a steady burn,” he said. “I think we are almost in crisis mode with this many months of sustained arrivals.”

Most children and families trying to cross the border in October were from El Salvador, a tiny country where increased violence has averaged 30 murders a day in August. Previously, Guatemala had the most families and children apprehended at the border, said US Customs and Border Protection.

While the Rio Grande Valley remains the center of migration flows in Texas, immigrants are starting to venture farther west of that area. The number of unaccompanied children caught in Del Rio sector jumped from 120 to 237, while 187 children were apprehended in the remote Big Bend area, up from just 13 last year.

According to internal intelligence files from the Homeland Security Department, most families who were interviewed told the federal border patrol agency officials that smugglers decided where they would try to cross. They reported that the cost ranged from about $5,000 to cross the border near Matamoros or Reynosa, Mexico, across the border from the Rio Grande Valley, but was about $1,500 to $2,000 to cross near Ciudad Acuna, across the river from Del Rio.

The White House administration was caught off guard by the sudden surge of children and families in 2014, and has made several efforts to curb the heavy flow of people crossing the border, including mass media campaigns in Central America to scare people out of attempting the dangerous journey.

US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement this week that “the campaigns are still in place,” and highlight that “those attempting to come here illegally are a top priority for removal.”

Immigrant families who were caught crossing the border between July and September told US immigration agents that they made the dangerous trip in part because they felt they were likely to succeed, according to the intelligence files. Immigrants spoke of “permisos,” or passes, that they believed would allow them to remain in the United States. n