Encounters with migrants at the US border increase

() — U.S. border authorities recorded more than 2 million encounters with migrants in fiscal year 2022, some of whom repeatedly attempted to cross the border, according to newly released data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (CBP).

The new data shows a marked increase from fiscal year 2021, when there were more than 1.7 million encounterswhich include Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations Title 8 detentions and Title 42 removals.

The government has faced a surge in the number of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border in recent months, many of whom are from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

There were 227,547 encounters with migrants along the US-Mexico border in September, up 12% from the previous month. The rebound responds to the strong increase in migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. In September, border authorities detained 77,302 migrants of those three nationalities, according to the data. It represents 245% more than in September 2021.

“While failed regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua are fueling a new wave of migration in the Western Hemisphere, the number of Venezuelans arriving at the southern border has dramatically decreased nearly every day since we launched joint actions with Mexico to reduce migration. irregular migration and create a fairer, orderlier and safer process for people fleeing the economic and humanitarian crisis in their country,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement.

The Biden administration continues to appeal to a controversial Trump-era pandemic restriction that allows authorities to turn away migrants, causing some to make the attempt multiple times. Of the 227,547 encounters last month, 19% involved people who had already attempted to cross at least once in the last 12 months.

Last week, the government also began expelling Venezuelans to Mexico. Officials said that was the reason for the decrease in border crossings by Venezuelan immigrants.