(NewsNation) — This week, the number of unaccompanied migrant children apprehended or placed into U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody went up from 194 to 348 — a rise of 79% in just days.

As of Thursday, there were 6,521 minors in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to government data. The Department of Health and Human Services is required to provide care to unaccompanied children encountered at the border.

So far this year, CBP has had 91,380 encounters with unaccompanied minors at the Southwest border. In May 2023, which is the latest data available for this year on CBP’s website, there were 9,943 encounters. That is down from the 14,675 who were seen in May 2022. The next month, they rose to 15,250, before dropping in July 2022 to 13,268.

In total last year, CBP reported a record 152,057 encounters with unaccompanied children.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, unlawful border crossings in general along the southwest border have decreased by more than 70% since May 11, when Title 42, a policy allowing migrants to be turned away on public health grounds, expired.

A news release from DHS attributed this to “planning and execution — which combined stiffer consequences for unlawful entry with a historic expansion of lawful pathways and processes.”

Critics say the way officials are crunching the data isn’t accurate though, with one lawmaker saying they are playing a “shell game.” Particularly, what they take issue with is an expansion of the CBP One app, which allows asylum-seekers to legally “move to the front of the line at ports of entry.”

“To reclassify illegal entry as those that have entered by a legal pathway and then tell the American people, ‘the numbers are way down; we have this thing under control.’ This is misleading by design,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said at a hearing last month.