The number of immigrants stranded along the southwestern US border has surpassed 2 million in a year for the first time, according to newly released government data, continuing the unprecedented pace of immigrants arriving in the country without legal permission.
The number of border arrests increased slightly from July to August, reaching a total of more than 2.1 million in the first 11 months of the 2022 fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
In an unusual step, officials in Joe Biden’s administration anticipated this finding to some reporters on Monday, ahead of the CBP’s routine monthly release. Authorities noted that the number of deportations last year — more than 1.3 million — was higher than any year before.
In recent months, the administration has tried to avoid immigration-related issues as the midterms approach, with Republicans spreading the message that the border is unsafe.
Last week, two Republican governors paid for dozens of immigrants who were released from government custody to be transported to Massachusetts and Washington in an effort to show Democratic regions of the country what the southwest border looks like.
Immigrants sent to these locations had crossed the southwestern border without documentation and passed border security checks, being cleared to enter the country temporarily pending deportation proceedings.
They are part of a global movement of people fleeing their home countries. In June, the United Nations said that 1 in 78 people worldwide were considered displaced. Venezuelans are estimated to be the second largest group of displaced people in the world. (Syrians are at the top of the rankings.)
In August, the number of immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela caught crossing the southwest border was about the same as the number of immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, a marked shift in the nationalities of people arriving in the United States. The number of immigrants without legal permission to enter the US from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras dropped 43% compared to August 2021; the number of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans increased by 175%.
“Failed communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in arrests on the US Southwest border,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement. Monday.
As the United States does not have diplomatic relations with these three countries, the authorities cannot repatriate immigrants, as they do with people from other countries.
Since President Joe Biden’s early days in office, more than 1 million people have been released by authorities to face removal proceedings within the country, according to data from legal challenges to this administration’s immigration policies.
Many of the immigrants who have crossed the southwest border are seeking asylum, a legal right that was significantly restricted through various policies during the Trump administration, when there was also a surge in migration. One such policy is the use of a public health rule, known as Title 42, that the Biden administration tried to end in late May. Louisiana and other predominantly Republican states have taken legal action to prevent the government from suspending the order.
Traveling to the United States is tiring, dangerous and expensive, with migrants often paying smugglers to cross. The Biden administration has deployed more than 23,000 police to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in an effort to combat smuggling operations. A government official said on Monday, asking not to be identified, that authorities believe this has stopped 57,000 migrants from reaching the border each month. Biden announced the campaign against human smuggling in June.
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