Border Arrests Hit All-Time High

U.S. authorities detained more than 1.7 million illegal immigrants at the southern border during the 2021 fiscal year that ended in September as arrests by Border Patrol surged to the highest levels ever recorded, according to a new report.

According to unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by the Washington Post, agents made 1.66 million arrests along the Mexico border only, topping the previous high of 1.64 million taken into custody in 2000 along the Mexico border, the report says.

The new data show Mexico was the single largest source of illegal migration during the fiscal year, with more than 608,000 Mexican nationals arrested at the border. The second-largest grouping included migrants from outside Mexico and Central American, such as Haitians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorans, Cubans, Brazilians and migrants from dozens of other nations whom CBP included in an “other” category. This grouping accounted for 367,000 arrests.

Meanwhile, Border Patrol arrested 309,000 Honduran migrants, 279,000 Guatemalan migrants and 96,000 migrants from El Salvador.