Venezuelans Take Top Spot Over Mexicans for Illegal Border Crossings Into the U.S.; Venezuelans Become Largest Nationality for Illegal Border Crossings as September Numbers Surge

Venezuelans take top spot over Mexicans for illegal border crossings into the U.S.:

Venezuelans topped Mexicans for the largest group of nationals arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. southern border for the first time on record in the month of September.

According to its latest monthly report released Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 218,763 encounters of people from all nationalities between ports of entry along the southwest border in September 2023, representing a 21% increase from the 181,084 illegal immigrants caught in August.

Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022. For decades, Mexicans accounted for the vast majority of illegal crossings but flows shifted over the last decade to Central Americans and, more recently, to people from South America, Africa and Asia.

Mexicans were arrested 39,733 times crossing the border in September, well behind Venezuelans. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Colombians rounded out the top five.

The Biden administration recently announced temporary legal status for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans who were already in the United States on July 31, while vowing to deport those who come illegally after that date and fail to get asylum. It recently began deportation flights to Venezuela as part of a diplomatic thaw with the government of Nicolás Maduro, a longtime adversary. The U.S. “surged resources and personnel” to the border in September, said Troy Miller, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequence, including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said.

CBP recorded 53,296 encounters involving Mexican nationals along the southwest land border, down from the 55,493 Mexican migrants in August 2023, and the 63,431 in September 2022. That includes both people apprehended crossing illegally and those processed at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. —>READ MORE HERE

Venezuelans become largest nationality for illegal border crossings as September numbers surge:

Venezuelans became the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. border, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September was the second-highest month for arrests of all nationalities.

Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022.

Arrests of all nationalities entering from Mexico totaled 218,763 in September, up 21% from 181,084 in August and approaching an all-time high of 224,370 in May 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrests for the government’s budget year that ended Sept. 30 topped 2 million for the second year in a row, down 7% from an all-time high of more than 2.2 million arrests in the same period a year earlier.

Venezuela plunged into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing more than 7 million people to leave. They initially settled in nearby countries in Latin America but began coming to the United States in the last three years, settling in New York, Chicago and other major cities.

The Biden administration recently announced temporary legal status for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans who were already in the United States on July 31, while vowing to deport those who come illegally after that date and fail to get asylum. It recently began deportation flights to Venezuela as part of a diplomatic thaw with the government of Nicolás Maduro, a longtime adversary.

The U.S. “surged resources and personnel” to the border in September, said Troy Miller, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. —>READ MORE HERE

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