The recent photos of the deportation of Haitian immigrants on horseback in Del Rio, Texas caused a sensation in the United States and sparked criticism of the Biden administration, including in its own camp.
Since the beginning of this year, the number of arrests of immigrants has soared. In July and August, more than 200,000 people were arrested on the southern border of the United States.
Between October 2020 and August 2021, the United States arrested 1.5 million people at the Mexican border. This level has not been reached for two decades (it reached 1.6 million in 2000).According to one A note from the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in March 2020, The previous peak occurred in May 2019 because of concerns that the border will be fully closed after Donald Trump declares a national emergency in the face of illegal immigrants.
Data from the U.S. Border Police (CBP) shows that the eastern border with Mexico has the most arrests, mainly in the Rio Grande Valley (81,162 arrests in August), followed by Del Río in the border area (32,362), or More than half of the 208,887 arrests made across the border with Mexico.
More Haitian and Ecuadorian immigration
In the past six months, Mexicans have been the main nationality of immigrants arrested at the border, followed by Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans.However, immigration “Other Nationalities”, Using the CBP nomenclature, which has recently taken a dominant position. The number of people in August (61,484) was more than six times that of January (9,671). Haitians, as well as Ecuadorians fleeing poverty and instability in the country, are migrating to the United States in large numbers to apply for asylum.
During the same period, most immigrants were adults (58%) trying to cross the border to the United States on their own. However, between March (31.3%) and August (41.6%), the proportion of immigrants traveling with their families increased by 10 percentage points, which is detrimental to isolated adults. The proportion of unaccompanied minors has been stable at around 9%.
This “immigrant pressure” posed a political challenge to Joe Biden, who initially showed determination to expel Haitians living in Del Rio, and then allowed some Haitians to enter the United States.