The number of immigrants facing deportation in 2022 soared by 29% to 4.7 million, according to a report released by the US government Friday.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials reportedly blamed record numbers of migrants arriving at the southern US border for the “significant… increase” in deportations.
According to statistics published by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the Department of Homeland Security, US border guards reportedly apprehended at least 2.3 million migrants in the last fiscal year – more than in any other year on record.
The figure represented a 37% increase over the previous record of 1.7 million apprehensions, which was set the year before by the CBP under US President Joe Biden.
At least 465,000 migrants – many of whom are seeking to escape grinding poverty and the drug cartels that have thrived as a result of US-backed coups and neoliberal policies in the region – have reportedly been apprehended since the new fiscal year began in October.
Mainstream outlets reporting on US-Mexico crossings tend to describe the situation as a “border crisis.” In the border city of El Paso, tens of thousands of migrants have crossed over in recent weeks in search of relative safety, higher wages, and an easier life. But hundreds, many of whom have children, have been left to fend for themselves on the streets as temperatures drop well below freezing.