By Mary Villareal
Article Source
A record 2,150,244 illegal immigrants were arrested at the southwestern U.S. border in August 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
The number of arrests along the southwestern border in a year has never surpassed the two-million mark before. CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus attributed the sudden spike of arrests to illegal immigrants fleeing the failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
“Those fleeing repressive regimes pose significant challenges for processing and removal,” Magnus said in a news release. “More individuals encountered at the border without a legal basis to remain will be expelled or removed this year than any prior year.”
Data from the agency itself reflected this trend, with August seeing 2.2 percent more arrests compared to July. There was also a 175 percent increase in arrests of Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan migrants compared to the same month a year ago.
In contrast, the number of Mexican immigrants arrested by CBP in August was down 43 percent compared to the year prior. The agency detained 203,598 illegal aliens coming from Mexico during that month.
The massive immigration wave this year has been driven by soaring numbers of people crossing from outside Mexico and Central America, two of the largest traditional sources of illegal entries.
Biden administration officials blamed the governments of the offending countries, whose strained relations with Washington severely limited the ability of authorities to send them deportees. Migrants apply for humanitarian protection in the United States, many of whom tend to have strong asylum claims.
Several Republican governors – including Arizona’s Doug Ducey, Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott – transported illegal aliens to other Democratic cities in a bid to make the ruling party aware of the actual situation at the border.
Drug seizures also increased in recent months
The CBP also shared numbers related to drug seizures nationwide, saying the amount of drugs seized had increased by 1.4 percent in August 2022 compared to the previous month. Cocaine and fentanyl seizures increased by 193 percent and six percent, respectively, while methamphetamine and heroin seizures decreased by 44 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
The Biden administration insists that it is building a “safe, orderly and humane” immigration system while blaming the Trump administration for “dismantling” channels for legal migration. (Related: Crimes at the border: Illegal immigrants, illegal drugs flow freely in southwest border.)
Critics, however, blasted the administration over the deaths of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the U.S., with scores of individuals drowning in the Rio Grande in recent months. Back in June, 53 illegals died when smugglers packed them in a sweltering trailer with a failing cooling system in Texas.
On one hand, GOP members of Congress pointed their fingers at President Joe Biden reversing border security policies put in place by former President Donald Trump. One factor that they blame for the repeat crossings is the Title 42 emergency public health policy, which was implemented at the beginning of the pandemic. This allowed U.S. agents to rapidly “expel” some migrants back to Mexico. The Biden administration’s attempt to phase out Title 42 was blocked in federal court last spring.
On the other hand, White House officials claimed that the high number of arrests at the southwestern border are distorted by repeat crossing attempts by illegals previously arrested. They added that 22 percent of those nabbed in August 2022 had a prior arrest in the previous 12 months.
Visit BorderSecurity.news for more news related to immigration arrests in the United States.
Watch the video below that puts forward this question: Is the record immigration an invasion at this point?
This video is from the Mckenna channel on Brighteon.com.
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