EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Migrant encounters were up 58 percent during the first six months of fiscal year 2022 in Far West Texas and New Mexico, and most apprehensions (77%) involved single adults, the U.S. Border Patrol reported.

On the other hand, border agents saw considerably fewer family units and especially unaccompanied children come through the area between Oct. 1 and March 31, Border Patrol El Paso Chief Agent Gloria I. Chavez said on social media.

The comparisons refer to a similar time frame last year.

Mexicans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Hondurans – in that order – made up the top nationalities of the migrants stopped by border agents so far this fiscal year. The breakdown of how many of the 113,281 migrants passing through the El Paso Sector in the past six months trying to avoid capture are economic migrants or asylum seekers wasn’t immediately available.

The Border Patrol detained or encountered 71,810 migrants between ports of entry during the same time frame last fiscal year. The number of unaccompanied children plummeted in the past six months compared to the first half of FY 2021, from 22,906 to 10,345, the Border Patrol reported.

The number of members of family units encountered fell from 18,449 in the first six months of fiscal year 2021 to 15,661 from Oct. 1 to March 31.

The agency is reporting 13 migrant deaths and 285 migrant rescues during the latest six-month period, as well as the prosecution of 299 human smugglers and the discovery of 110 stash houses. A total of 1,108 people in those stash houses were taken into Border Patrol custody.

“These numbers barely represent the daily accomplishments of the El Paso Sector hard-working Border Patrol agents. Their focus on the mission and their daily duties is undeterred, irrespective of these challenging times,” Chavez said.

The spike in El Paso nearly matches an 83.8 percent increase nationwide, with Yuma, Arizona, and Del Rio, Texas, experiencing a 590 percent and a 184 percent hike, respectively.