Record 2 Million Migrants Apprehended at SW Border this Year

Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly two million migrants who illegally crossed the southwest border between ports of entry so far this fiscal year. One month remains in the already record-setting year.

Agents assigned to the nine southwest border sectors apprehended 1,997,769 migrants during the first 11 months of Fiscal Year 2022, according to the August Southwest Land Border Encounters report released late on Monday afternoon. August is the fifth straight month where apprehensions exceeded 180,000 migrants.

Officials in the Biden administration quickly pointed fingers outside the U.S. for the failures of their own immigration and border security policies.

“Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a written statement. “Our dedicated teams of skilled agents continue to work around the clock to secure our border and safely and humanely process and vet every individual encountered, but those fleeing repressive regimes pose significant challenges for processing and removal.”

CBP officials reported a 175 percent increase in the apprehension of migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. They placed the number of apprehensions at 55,333 of migrants from these three nations. This compares to 56,979 from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.

One piece of good news for the administration is the 14 percent decrease in the apprehension of unaccompanied migrant children. The number of apprehensions fell from 13,278 in July to 11,365 in August.

The news of the spike in Venezuelan migrants follows a report from the Department of Homeland Security reviewed by Breitbart Texas that revealed Venezuelan officials are releasing inmates from their prisons. These inmates are reported to be among the rising Venezuelan migrant numbers and include many violent criminals, Breitbart Texas’ Randy Clark first reported.

“The intelligence report warns agents the freed prisoners have been seen within migrant caravans traveling from Tapachula, Mexico toward the U.S.-Mexico border as recently as July,” Clark reported. “The report does not state whether the released prison inmates were traveling as a cohesive group but does state it was commonly shared knowledge among migrants traveling to the United States within a caravan in July that many of the Venezuelan migrants in the group were convicts and included hardened criminals.”

The apprehension of the nearly two million migrants during the first 11 months of FY22 represents an increase of 20 percent over the entire FY21 when agents apprehended a then-record-setting 1.6 million migrants.

“More individuals encountered at the border without a legal basis to remain will be expelled or removed this year than any prior year,” Commissioner Magnus said in the conclusion of his statement. He credits the “Biden-Harris” administration for working “with our partners in the region to address the root causes of migration, facilitate repatriation, and take thousands of smugglers off the streets.”