Washington: Nearly 2,000 minors were separated from their parents or adult guardians who illegally crossed into the United States over a recent six-week period, officials said on Friday in the most comprehensive 2018 figures provided on family separations.

Between April 19 and May 31 of 2018, the 1,995 children were separated from 1,940 adults who were being held by US border patrol in preparation for prosecution for crossing the border illegally, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said on a call with reporters.

The detention numbers appear to have spiked after President Donald Trump's administration announced a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossings, with a DHS official defending the policy by saying "we are not going to ignore the law any longer."