The United States broke the record for migrant apprehensions in one year, according to the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Venezuelan citizens have been the most affected, since they register the highest migratory figures and many of them are stranded at different points between Central America and Mexico, after Washington announced new measures to regulate their arrival in the United States.
Migration figures overflow in the United States. There, authorities made a total of 2.7 million arrests of undocumented migrants during fiscal year 2022, which ended in September.
The CBP added that 85% of these arrests were made on the border that divides the US state of California with the Mexican state of Baja California.
According to the released data, the largest number of detainees corresponds to Venezuelan nationalsa segment of the population that experienced an increase over the months: for May, 5,279 captures were registered, in July there were 17,811 and in September 33,961, according to the CBP.
Despite being high figures, the authorities warned that the arrests do not reflect individual captures because many of the detained migrants are expelled from the country and later cross the border again, where some are recaptured.
During this tax period, 224,607 Cubans were detained, reaching its maximum peak in April, after registering 35,020 arrests. They were also arrested 823,057 Mexicans, 238,061 Guatemalans, 214,975 Hondurans, 164,600 Nicaraguans, 130,971 Colombians Y 97,197 Salvadoransaccording to the CBP.
“The failed regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua continued to push a new wave of immigration throughout the hemisphere,” said the director of the Office of Customs and Border Protection, Chris Magnus.
The office also highlighted thatThe number of captures of adults who traveled alone increased by 50% compared to the previous year, registering 1,993,694 captures in 2021. Regarding family group captures, 614,023 were recorded, compared to 483,846 last year.
Similarly, the authorities captured 152,880 minors traveling alone, a figure very similar to last fiscal year.
Venezuelans, with the highest migration rates and the most affected by the new regulations
Hundreds of Venezuelans are stranded in Mexico after Washington announced its new immigration policies on October 12, which contemplate immediate deportation to Mexican territory if migrants are found illegally crossing the land border.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that these new measures are not an agreement with Mexico but a “measure by the United States”, since his country has been forced to receive a large number of expelled Venezuelans.
“It is a procedure that takes time, we are going to support those who are in our territory, as we always do, with shelters, with food, with medical attention,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured last Friday.
To deal with the crisis, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) arranged buses for hundreds of Venezuelans who need to travel from border cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Matamoros to Mexico City in order to return to their country. .
The feared Gap of the Darién, a critical point for migrants
The passage known as the Darién Gap, located between the border between Colombia and Panama, has also registered record numbers. so far this year, around 204,000 irregular migrants have made their way through this thick jungle on his way to the United States.
Panamanian authorities have said the numbers are up almost 50% compared to 2021, marking a record number of irregular migrants over the past decade through the Darién.
According to data from the National Migration Service (SNM) of Panama, 78.1% of migrants are of Venezuelan nationality and the rest correspond to other nationalities from the American continent, Africa and Asia.
In order to deal with the migratory crisis, the Panamanian government has established the Migratory Reception Stations (ERM) on the borders with Colombia and Costa Rica, in order to take their data, offer food and medical attention.
The ERM reports around 2,500 daily arrivals, a figure that has been reduced since the announcement of the new policy for Venezuelan migrants by the United States in mid-October.
With the announcements, many of the Venezuelan migrants have preferred to return to their country and find themselves refugees in temporary shelters set up by the Venezuelan Embassy in Panama City, while they are granted a safe conduct and economic support to return to their place of origin.
The Foreign Minister of Panama, Janaina Tewaney, assured that “the voluntary return” of these irregular migrants “is being coordinated through the Foreign Ministry, Migration and the Venezuelan Mission in Panama, which has taken responsibility.”
with EFE
