US arrests along Mexico border to reach record annual number
IN AUGUST this year, US Customs and Border Protection detained 203 598 migrants crossing from Mexico, the latest figures show, putting authorities on pace to tally more than 2.3 million arrests during the government’s 2022 fiscal year ending on September 30.
The total, which includes some people apprehended more than once, far exceeds last year’s record of more than 1.7 million arrests.
The historic migration wave this year has been driven by soaring numbers of border-crossers from outside Mexico and Central America, the two largest traditional sources of illegal entries. Migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba accounted for more than one-third of those taken into custody along the southern border last month, according to Customs and Border Protection, a 175% increase over August 2021.
Biden administration officials blamed the governments of those countries, whose strained relations with Washington severely limit the ability of authorities to send them deportees. Many of the migrants apply for humanitarian protection in the US and tend to have strong asylum claims.
“Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the western hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the south-west US border,” Customs and Border Protection commissioner Chris Magnus said. “Those fleeing repressive regimes pose significant challenges for processing and removal.”
Biden administration officials continue to insist they are building a “safe, orderly and humane” immigration system while blaming the Trump administration for “dismantling” channels for legal migration.
Critics say Biden administration officials have fallen far short of meeting their refugee admission goals, and the number of migrants who have died this year attempting to cross into the US is at an all-time high. Scores have drowned in the Rio Grande in recent months, and 53 were killed in June when smugglers in Texas packed migrants into a sweltering tractor trailer with a failing cooling system.
Republican lawmakers blame the record number of crossings on President Joe Biden’s reversal of Trump administration border policies. Over the past several months, the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona have sent more than 10 000 migrants on buses to Washington, New York and other northern destinations to put pressure on Democrats by straining relief services in their jurisdictions.
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shipped a planeload of Venezuelans to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, transporting them to a wealthy island enclave with limited services for migrants.
Biden administration officials also say the high border numbers are distorted by repeat crossing attempts by migrants previously arrested. Last month, 22% of those arrested had a prior arrest in the previous year. One factor officials blame for the repeat crossings is the Title 42 emergency public health policy, that allows US agents to rapidly “expel” some migrants back to Mexico.