What Nationalities Are Entering at the Border?

In the month of October, Customs and Border Protection reported 230,678 “encounters" with illegal aliens.

This term refers to both apprehensions and expulsions, including multiple “encounters” with the same individuals.

Besides the raw numbers, we have to ask, where are all these illegal aliens coming from?

In October, the largest nationality represented was Mexican, accounting for over a quarter of the encounters.

In descending order, Mexico was followed by Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador and Haiti.

All of these nations are in the Western Hemisphere and nearly all are Spanish-speaking countries, with the exception of Haiti.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele proudly tweeted that his country was not on the list.

“After being in the top 3 of the countries sending the most migrants to the United States… Now we don't even enter the top 10!” he wrote.

A recent article on the Migration Policy Institute website by Ariel G. Ruiz Soto discusses the nationalities of people entering during the Biden Border Rush.

This article, published in October, reviewed data from Fiscal Year 2022, which concluded on September 30, 2022.

“Migrant and asylum seeker flows have become increasingly hemispheric in nature,” Ruiz Soto reported.

More specifically, “For the first time in history, more Venezuelans, Cubans, and Nicaraguans were encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during FY 2022 than migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.”

Nicaragua is in Central America, but not in the “Northern Triangle” (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras), which is traditionally the part of Central America that sends the most immigrants. But these proportions change over time.

“The year also saw significant arrivals of Brazilians, Ecuadorians, Haitians, and from countries further afield, including Ukraine, India, and Turkey.”

The big story here is the drastic increase of migrants from outside Mexico and the Northern Triangle.

“Migrants from beyond Mexico and Northern Central America accounted for 43 percent of those encountered between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in FY 2022—compared to 4 percent just five years ago.”

From 4% to 43% in five years!

The article includes a graph which illustrates 'Migrant Encounters between Ports of Entry, by Nationality, FY 2008-22.'

In FY 2008, over 90% of encounters were with Mexican illegals.

In FY 2022, Mexicans were under 40%.

Of course, we’re talking about percentages here, not raw numbers. And once again, these “encounters” can occur with the same individual multiple times. But still, there’s a trend here.

The graph clearly shows the high point of Salvadorans, from 2014 to 2017, which is now a smaller percentage.

The high points of both Guatemalans and Hondurans were in FY 2019. Since then, percentages of both have decreased.

“There were 571,159 encounters of Venezuelans, Cubans, and Nicaraguans arriving between ports of entry during FY 2022—more than the 520,602 encounters of migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.”

And note this complication:

“These newer countries of origin (Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua) have strained diplomatic ties with the United States, making established practices for the return of their nationals inoperative.”

Where these migrants cross the border even varies by nationality:

“Approximately 57 percent of all migrant encounters between ports of entry in FY 2022 occurred in the Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio, and Yuma (Arizona) sectors. After years of much lower activity, the Del Rio sector surpassed the Rio Grande Valley sector, observing the largest number of encounters. Yuma, however, experienced the highest increase (170 percent) between FY 2021 and FY 2022. Moreover, the top nationalities encountered in these three sectors demonstrated the changing composition of flows. Hondurans ranked first in the Rio Grande Valley sector, Cubans in Yuma, and Venezuelans and Mexicans were encountered at nearly the same rate in Del Rio.”

There are many factors influencing both legal and illegal immigration.

However, there are countries much smaller than ours, Hungary and Israel for example, which strictly control their borders.

The difference?

Our government doesn’t want to strictly control the border. The Biden administration wants to bring in millions of foreigners.

It’s that simple.

You can find more of Allan Wall's work at his website.

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