US reports record number of arrests at southern border in December, numbers drop in January

The number of Border Patrol encounters with immigrants who arrived at the southern border of the United States in the month of December 2022 amounted to 216,162, which meant an increase of 11% compared to November, according to the government agency in a statement; an unprecedented figure, according to some organizations alerted.

A Analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS, for its acronym in English), estimating the figures registered in the first quarter of the fiscal year (October, November and December 2022) suggests that, if this rise is maintained, some US cities could be overcrowded by new arrivals.

According to this study center, the number of arrests on the southern border last month “exceeds any figure since records exist, at a time when the number of arrests should be at a minimum.”

Nevertheless, reports reported on friday for Reuters point out that, so far in January, there has been a significant decrease due to the implementation of the humanitarian parole granted to migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba and Haitias had been done with Venezuelan nationals.

“Unless the Biden Administration changes course, or Congress forces the president to change his border policies, more than three million aliens – a population larger than 17 US states or the cities of Philadelphia and Dallas combined – will enter the United States illegally. across the southwest border in fiscal year 2023”, predicts Andrew Arthur, who works as a resident analyst for the CIS.

The CBP, for its part, attributes the increase to “smugglers spreading misinformation about the lifting of the Title 42 public health order ordered by the Supreme Court”, and reports that there has been “a sharp decrease in the number of Venezuelans illegally crossing our southwest border, 82% less than in September 2022”, according to the evaluation of the acting commissioner of CBP, Troy Miller.

In a breakdown of the encounters with Venezuelan migrants along the southern border, the CBP states that it fell from 33,804 in the month of September 2022 to only 7,957 in November, with an increase to 8,130 in December.

In the case of Cubans and Nicaraguans, the figure also increased from 68,109 in November to 77,043 in December.

The Biden Administration has raised the flag of the immigration issue as a fundamental policy of its government, constantly warning that “the border is not open” and that its objective is to advance legal, orderly and safe immigration.

However, Republicans claim that the White House maintains an “open borders” policy. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, accused President Joe Biden on Monday of putting the lives of immigrants who continue to arrive irregularly at risk.

“President Biden’s open border policies are putting lives at risk. The Texas Department of Public Safety rescued 20 migrants Sunday in a people smuggling operation. While Biden does nothing to secure our border, Texas is disrupting cartel activity and people smuggling operations,” the governor said in a message via a tweet.

President Biden made his first trip to the southern border, at the beginning of this month of January, precisely to the city of El Paso, where activists and immigrants gathered after the announcement of the humanitarian parole.

“They need help and we are going to give it to them,” Biden said during his brief stay, marked by the absence of statements and during which not many details about his exchange with community leaders and authorities emerged.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, for her part, has criticized the governor of FloridaRon DeSantis, also a Republican, for activating the National Guard in the face of the incessant arrival of rafters from Cuba and Haiti.

“We have denounced it time and time again, and we will continue to do so. He is not trying to fix the problem, he is really creating a problem, ”said the spokeswoman on January 11.

“Things will get worse. As the above reveals, things on the southwest border are bad and bound to get worse. Immigrants are arriving in record numbers, putting pressure on the cities and towns that are their final destinations,” said Arthur, the CIS expert.

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