The exodus of Colombians to the United States remained high throughout the past month and continues breaking historical records in migration to this country.
(Also read: Illegal migration to the US is increasingly internationalized, what is happening?
According to new figures from the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol, some 14,051 nationals were detained trying to enter illegally through one of its land borders and by air or sea.
The vast majority of them, 13,024, were arrested on the southern border, a trend that began at the beginning of this year and that has the authorities under alarm. So far this fiscal year 2022 there are more than 116,000 arrests, compared to 10,000 registered in 2021 and less than 3,000 in 2020.
That is, an increase of more than 4,000 percent in two years.
The other new fact that also drew attention in the August statistics is the increase in Colombians detained trying to enter from Panama. According to the Border Patrol, over the past month they apprehended 340 people entering through this route, bringing the total for the year to 1,632.
To put it in context, the figure for August alone is higher than all arrests in 2021, which were only 256.
According to authorities consulted by this newspaper, although the route along the southern border is still preferred due to its proximity and the costs of the journey, migration via Canada is gaining strength now that eyes have focused on illegal immigration through Mexico. .
Since March, the US has been expelling thousands of Colombians arrested through an express mechanism that does not require judicial proceedings.
To date, according to informal data from NGOs that are experts on border issues, almost 10,000 have been expelled this way, which is on charter planes that leave Monday through Friday for Bogotá. However, the bulk of the detainees remain in the US waiting for their immigration status to be resolved.
Some under arrest, but others conditionally released while asylum cases progress.
But the case of the Colombians is not the only one that has been shot. Large increases in arrests of Venezuelans and Haitians were also recorded in August as are large numbers of Cubans.
In the case of Venezuelans, 25,521 were arrested. This is the highest figure that has been reported for nationals of this country in a single month and that puts the total for the year at about 155,000 arrests, three times more than in all of 2021.
As with the Colombians, the explosion of migrants from this country began at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, but was put on hold for a few short months through express deportations. Starting in May, however, they shot up again.
The situation of the Cubans has also puzzled the authorities. More than 20,000 were arrested last month, mostly along the southern border, bringing the year’s total to nearly 200,000. A figure four times larger than that of 2021.
And another relevant fact: arrests of Cubans, Colombians, Venezuelans, and Haitians accounted for 25 percent of total arrests in August and a similar figure if you look at the entire year 2022. This is a historical percentage for a migration that for decades has been dominated by citizens of Mexico and Central America.
In 2021, to give an example, nationals from these four countries accounted for less than 10 percent of all arrests nationally and on the southern border.
The consolidated figures until August, when there is still a month to go before the end of fiscal year 2022 (which ends in September) also beat all previous historical records.
In total, 2,493,721 people were arrested, compared to 1,956,519 in 2021.
For the first time in history, in addition, more than 2 million people were detained on the southern border alone.
The reasons for this phenomenon are of various kinds. On the one hand, there is the economic crisis caused by Covid 19 in the region and that is pushing migration to the US from non-traditional countries.
Likewise, the NGOs mention the effects of climate change, which is generating more poverty, the perception that the Joe Biden government would be more benevolent with migrants, migration policies adopted during the Donald Trump administration that have caused the multiple re-entries of migrants expelled through the controversial Title 42, which allows migrants to be removed from the country alleging a health emergency, but which does not punish repeat offenders.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
Correspondent of THE TIME
Washington
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