(Headline USA) Socialist Venezuela was home to the largest number of illegal immigrants arrested, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September saw the second-highest number of arrests this year.
Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022.
Arrests of all illegals entering from Mexico totaled 218,763 in September, up 21% from 181,084 in August and approaching an all-time high of 222,018 in December 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Arrests for the government’s budget year that ended Sept. 30 topped 2 million for the second year in a row.
Venezuela’s socialist economy produced a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing more than 7 million people to leave.
These illegal victims of socialism began coming to the United States in the last three years, settling in New York, Chicago and other major cities.
Troy Miller, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, explained his department’s response to the surge of illegal socialists.
“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said.
Mexicans were arrested 39,733 times crossing the border in September, well behind Venezuelans. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Colombians rounded out the top five.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
