Migrants from Outside Mexico, Northern Triangle Flooding Biden’s Open Border

The latest border apprehension numbers show a huge rise in migrants from distant countries, including Colombia, India, and Turkey, seeking to enter the U.S.

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, located just south of the U.S., have been the chief drivers of migration. However, the number of migrants from other countries grew six times faster since President Joe Biden took office than the rise in arrivals from the nearby nations during the same period, a Breitbart News analysis of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehension data.

Breitbart News assessment is based on the percentage difference in the number of CBP encounters at and between ports of entry along the U.S. southern border in February and those in August, the latest month for which the agency made data available Wednesday. Biden’s inauguration took place on January 20.

CBP apprehensions of migrants from Mexico and the Central American countries making up the Northern Triangle (NT) region —Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — have exceeded one million so far this calendar year, making up nearly 80 percent of the total 1,323,597 encounters from January to August.

The number of migrants from nearby countries flocking to the U.S. border this year dwarfs last year’s inflow of 271,067.

Meanwhile, the apprehension of global migrants, those beyond Mexico and the NT countries, has exploded to 289,159 in 2021. That is almost 14 times as many global migrants as last year, according to the new data.

CBP encounters of such migrants, sometimes identified as “others” by the agency, have steadily increased since the beginning of the year. According to the new figures, there was a significant jump in foreign nationals from Colombia, India, and Turkey from July to August.

Still, the overall number of CBP apprehensions on the U.S. southern border saw a drop over that same period, driven by a decline in Mexican and the Northern Triangle migrants. The agency noted Wednesday”

CBP recorded 2 percent fewer encounters in August than July. The vast majority of single adults encountered in August, along with a substantial share of families, continued to be expelled under the CDC’s [Center for Disease Control and Prevention] Title 42 authority.

Title 42 refers to pandemic control protocols invoked by former President Donald Trump’s administration in March 2020 that allow U.S. border authorities to quickly deport any migrant amid the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic, including asylum seekers.

However, the Biden administration has weakened the measure, allowing exceptions to thousands of unaccompanied children, certain families, and some single adults, reportedly including those who hail from outside Mexico and Central America, while claiming the border is closed to non-essential travel.

CBP acknowledged that although encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border saw a slight decrease from July to August, the number remains “high,” fueled by apprehensions from Mexico and the Northern Triangle.

Apprehensions reached a 20-year high in March and have steadily increased until August. Despite the small drop from July to last month, monthly CBP encounters have set a new record since March. The Biden administration is close to setting an unprecedented record for southern border apprehensions in fiscal and calendar year 2021.

Biden’s CBP, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has made it easier for most migrants removed by Title 42 to make an unlimited number of illegal crossing attempts allowed by the absence of traditional penalties, such as felony charges and jail time, for that category of repeat border crossers. Instead of removing Northern Triangle migrants deported under Title 42 to their home countries, the Biden administration leaves them in Mexico.

Of the 208,887 total encounters in August, “25 percent involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14 percent for Fiscal Years 2014-2019,” the agency noted.

“A total of 1,002,722 unique individuals have been encountered year-to-date during Fiscal Year 2021, compared to 851,513 during the same time period in Fiscal Year 2019,” it added.