The 10,588 apprehensions are a 106 percent increase over the same Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 period from last year, when 5,129 kids were picked up.

Apprehensions of family units — legal guardians with children under 18 — have proliferated too, with 12,505 detentions in those two months, representing a 173 percent increase from last year’s 4,577 seizures in the same time frame…

“The smugglers have adjusted their routes and they’re working around those border control points that the Mexicans have put in place, finding new routes,” she told NBC News.

And the issues that prompt a family to send a young child away from their home country on a dangerous trek to the U.S. have only gotten worse, namely gang and drug-related violence.