With 2.3 million apprehensions in the last 12 months at the southern border of the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has topped the record high set in 2021.
The total includes migrants stopped multiple times and climbs 37% over last year’s 1.7 million.
However, this number doesn’t mean there were more people seeking to enter the U.S. illegally than in years past. Rather, advances in security technology have made the tracking of migrants more efficient, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
For instance, it is estimated that almost 4 million unauthorized border crossings occurred in 2000, but only 1.6 million were actually counted because of the limitations of the day.
Yet that’s not to suggest that the rise in 2022 should not be on the radar of the Biden administration, with data showing that more migrants are making their way to America from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela and less from northern Central America.
All three countries give America problems when it comes to returning illegal border crossers to their native lands due to strained political relations.
“The ability to send them back to those states are not rational. We're working with Mexico and other countries to stop the flow,” President Joe Biden said at a September press conference.
As for the demographical breakdown of migrants, 70% were single adults while whole family migrations accounted for nearly 25% and only 6% were unaccompanied children.
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