Aumentan el 15 % las detenciones de migrantes en mayo / U.S. Border Patrol migrant apprehensions reached record levels in May

Las autoridades de inmigración de Estados Unidos reportaron un aumento del 15 % de migrantes detenidos en mayo pasado con respecto al mes anterior.

La Oficina de Aduanas y Protección de Fronteras (CBP, en inglés) indicó que durante el mes pasado fueron detenidos 177.793 migrantes indocumentados.

Sin embargo, las detenciones a lo largo de la frontera terrestre con México alcanzaron en mayo las 239.416, teniendo en cuenta que hay migrantes que son detenidos, expulsados y retornan y son capturados nuevamente.

El director de CBP, Chris Magnus, recordó que “las restricciones actuales en la frontera de Estados Unidos no han cambiado”.

Agregó que las familias y los adultos que viajan solos, detenidos en la frontera sudoeste, seguirán siendo expulsados de forma expedita bajo el Título 42.

Las cifras de detenciones en mayo tuvo un incremento del 2 % sobre las de abril, y el 25 % de ellas involucraron personas que ya habían sido detenidas al menos una vez en los últimos 12 meses, explicó CBP.

El 60 % de las detenciones en la frontera sudoeste involucró adultos que viajaban solo, para un total de 165.200 detenciones, lo cual marca una disminución del 2 % en comparación con las cifras de abril.

El 42 % de las detenciones en la frontera sudoeste, esto es 100.699 capturas, resultaron en expulsiones expeditas en aplicación de la norma sanitaria conocida como Título 42.

Las capturas de menores de edad que viajaban sin la compañía de adultos responsables aumentaron un 21 % en abril en la frontera sudoeste, con un total de 14.699 detenciones comparadas con 12.180 en el mes anterior.

En mayo las capturas de unidades familiares sumaron 55.092, un incremento del 8 % en relación con el mes anterior.

Magnus recordó que mientras las temperaturas siguen subiendo al aproximarse el verano “los contrabandistas seguirán explotando a las poblaciones vulnerables poniendo en peligro las vidas de los migrantes por su lucro”.

Sobre las nuevas cifras, el Partido Republicano señaló este jueves que la crisis fronteriza “es inhumana y está destruyendo comunidades”.

Ronna McDaniel, presidenta del Comité Nacional Repúblicano (CNR), señaló que las 239.416 detenciones es el “total más alto en un mes en la historia del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional” y calificó.

EFE

U.S. Border Patrol migrant apprehensions reached record levels in May

Border Patrol agents along the southern border recorded in May an all-time monthly high in apprehensions, processing migrants who entered the U.S. unlawfully over 222,000 times as part of a historic migration event, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics released Wednesday show.

May’s tally of migrant arrests surpassed the previous monthly record U.S. Border Patrol set in March 2000, when the agency recorded just over 220,000 apprehensions, according to historical government data for the past two decades.

U.S. authorities also reported processing another 17,000 unauthorized migrants at official border ports of entry, where the Biden administration has been admitting some asylum-seekers deemed to be vulnerable so they can continue their immigration proceedings inside the country.

The statistics published Wednesday show the unprecedented levels of migrant arrivals recorded along the U.S.-Mexico border over the past year under President Biden have only continued to intensify, posing major humanitarian, logistical and political challenges for his administration.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has processed migrants over 1.5 million times in fiscal year 2022, which will end at the end of September, a tally that is on track to exceed the record 1.7 migrant arrivals in fiscal year 2021.

Republican lawmakers have said the unprecedented number of migrant arrests stem solely from Biden administration decisions to end some Trump-era restrictions. The administration and its allies, however, have said the record border arrivals are part of a broader displacement crisis fueled by pandemic-era economic woes, natural disasters, violence and political repression in parts of Latin America.

May’s historic tally of border arrests was, in part, driven by record arrivals of Colombian and Nicaraguan migrants, high numbers of Cuban asylum-seekers continuing to reach the Mexican border and a sharp increase in Haitians entering U.S. immigration custody. Arrivals of migrants from Brazil, Ecuador, Russia and other nations also increased.

The soaring number of migrant arrivals has also been partly fueled by an unusually high rate of migrants crossing the border multiple times after being returned to Mexico. CBP said Wednesday that 25% of the migrant encounters in May involved migrants who had been previously stopped by the agency in the past year.

Nearly 77,000 of the migrant encounters in May involved Mexicans; 25,348 involved Cubans; 21,382 involved Guatemalans; 19,491 involved Hondurans; 19,040 involved Colombians; 18,944 involved Nicaraguans; 10,418 involved Haitians; 8,955 involved Salvadorans; 5,118 involved Brazilians; 5,078 involved Venezuelans; 3,394 involved Russians and 3,045 involved Ecuadoreans.

Approximately 100,000 of the CBP encounters in May led to migrants being expelled to Mexico or their home country without a chance to request asylum under a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42, agency data show. The Biden administration sought to end Title 42 last month, citing improving public health conditions, but a federal court required officials to continue the expulsions indefinitely.

From the original source: Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News