Illegal Border Crossings From Mexico Into the US
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a spike in migration from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua in September increased the number of unlawful crossings to the highest level ever seen in a fiscal year.
The year-end figures take into account the weakening political and economic conditions in some nations, the relative strength of the American economy, and the inconsistent application of Trump-era asylum rules.
The third-highest month of Joe Biden‘s presidency, 227,547 migrant crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico were made in September. It increased by 18.5% from 192,001 times in September 2021 and by 11.5% from 204,087 times in August.
According to statistics issued late on Friday night, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times in the fiscal year that concluded on September 30. This is an increase of 37% from 1.73 million times the previous year. In August, the annual total went above 2 million for the first time, and it is already more than twice as high as it was in 2019 under Donald Trump’s administration.
In contrast to the about 58,000 migrants halted in September from Mexico and the three northern Central American countries that have typically made up the majority of the flow, nearly 78,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua came from those countries.
The extraordinary geographic shift can be attributed, at least in part, to Title 42, a public health regulation that suspends the right to seek asylum under domestic and international law in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The United States is unable to deport migrants to Venezuela, Cuba, or Nicaragua due to fragile diplomatic relations. In order to prosecute their immigration cases, they are consequently generally released in the United States.
Since it was implemented in March 2020, Title 42 authority has been used 2.4 million times, but it has disproportionately affected immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
According to American officials, the number of Venezuelans migrating to the US has decreased by more than 85% since October 12, when the US started deporting Venezuelans to Mexico under Title 42. The Biden administration also promised to allow up to 24,000 Venezuelans on humanitarian parole provided they applied online, had a sponsor for financial support, and entered the US through an airport, much like the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have immigrated since Russia invaded their nation.
The Homeland Security Department announced that hundreds more Venezuelans have been given the green light to travel. The first four Venezuelans paroled into the United States came on Saturday — two from Mexico, one from Guatemala, and one from Peru.
Although this preliminary information is not included in the September report, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus stated that it “confirms what we’ve said all along: When there is a lawful and orderly way to enter the country, people will be less likely to put their lives in the hands of smugglers and try to cross the border unlawfully.”
Despite the administration’s attempt to terminate the public health authority in May, which was unsuccessful due to a federal judge’s intervention, the expansion of Title 42 enabling Venezuelans to be deported to Mexico nonetheless occurred.
For the second consecutive month, Venezuelans were the second-largest nationality at the border after Mexicans. In September, they were stopped 33,804 times, up 33% from 25,361 times in August.
In September, 26,178 Cubans were stopped at the border, up 37% from 19,060 in August. Cubans are taking part in the greatest exodus from the Caribbean island to the United States since 1980.
In September, Nicaraguans were stopped 18,199 times, up from 7,298 in August.
The report, which many Republicans have emphasized in their campaigns to take control of the House and Senate, is the final monthly reading of migratory flows prior to the midterm elections in the United States. The House Homeland Security Committee’s Republican members responded to the figures on Saturday with the phrase “You’ve got to be kidding.”
