The agency reported illegal aliens were stopped 206,239 times by border police between ports of entry, including 134,546 arrests in Texas border patrol sectors. There have been 411,125 arrests so far this fiscal year, not including encounters at field offices. In November 2021, there were only 174,845 arrests along the border.
Troy Miller, the agency’s acting commissioner, highlighted the increase in illegal immigration by foreign nationals from Cuba and Nicaragua.
“Individuals from Mexico and northern Central America accounted for just 30 percent of unique encounters in November, a significant drop from the 53 percent they represented a year ago, as more migrants arrive from a variety of other countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua,” Miller said in a news release.
Miller is serving as CBP’s acting commissioner after the previous commissioner, Chris Magnus, resigned due to pressure from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. There were more encounters with illegal immigrants in Fiscal Year 2022 than in any previous recorded year.
CBP partially ascribed the increase in November to “failing communist regimes” in Cuba and Nicaragua. 35 percent of those encountered along the border were from one of those two countries, amounting to 68,044 individuals. Mexico and countries in northern Central America accounted for 58,559 or 30 percent of the encounters.
The agency touted the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to reduce illegal immigration from Venezuela. In October, the federal government reached an agreement with the Mexican government whereby Venezuelan nationals could be expelled to Mexico under the Title 42 public health order. In November, there were 7,931 encounters with Venezuelan nationals, as opposed to 22,045 in October and 33,804 in September.
However, the Biden administration is seeking to end the Title 42 public health order in court. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay on Tuesday at the request of Texas and other states led by Republicans to prevent the federal government from ending expulsions under the policy. Oral arguments in the case could be set for February 2023; in the meantime, expulsions under Title 42 will continue.
CBP said that 66,984 of the encounters in November ended with a Title 42 expulsion, which amounts to 29 percent. Of that total, 59,147 were single adults and 7,674 were part of a family unit. The remainder of the cases were processed under Title 8. 16 percent of those encountered in November had already crossed the border illegally in the last year.
Encounters with unaccompanied children increased more than 9 percent in November, with 13,150 minors stopped by border guards. More than two thirds of the total encounters in November were single adults.
The figures reported by CBP reflect those who are detected and arrested, not including those who evade apprehension or avoid detection altogether.
There was a 52 percent increase in seizures of heroin in November, along and a 53 percent increase in fentanyl seizures. Methamphetamine seizures were up by 3 percent while cocaine seizures were down by 8 percent, according to CBP.
The agency published its update the day before Christmas Eve on Friday, December 23.
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Hayden Sparks
Hayden Sparks is a senior reporter for The Texan and a lifelong resident of the Lone Star State. He has coached competitive speech and debate and has been involved in politics since a young age. One of Hayden's favorite quotes is by Sam Houston: "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may."
