The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have now released their operational report for January, which states there were 153,941 unlawful migrant encounters in Southwestern United States during the first month of 2022.
This is the highest number of encounters with unlawful migrants in January in the last four years — in January 2021, there were 78,414, in January 2020, there were 36,585, and in January 2019, there were 58,317.
In a press release, Chris Magnus, CBP Commissioner, stated, “CBP’s January Monthly Operational Update shows migratory flows decreased in January, with CBP personnel encountering 14% fewer individuals along the Southwest border than December. Most encounters in January were of single adults, and a majority were expelled under Title 42. Overall illegal narcotic seizures decreased, though there was a substantial increase in fentanyl interdictions. CBP continues to take important steps to improve our ability to interdict narcotics and keep dangerous drugs off our streets.”
Per CBP’s report, of the 153,941 encounters in Southwestern United States with migrants, 78,486 individuals fell under Title 42 for expulsion, and 75,455 individuals went through Title 8 processing.
Title 42 expulsions are not based on immigration status, but rather on health risks to the public, mainly COVID-19. Many individuals were expelled because their entry into the U.S. involved unlawfully avoiding health screenings. Unlawful migrants are not held in custody but sent back to the last country they traveled from or their country of origin.
According to The Texan News, CBP’s arrests at the Texas border in January consisted of 31% Mexicans, 12% Hondurans, 12% Guatemalans, 6% Salvadorans, and 39% other nationalities.
In January, CBP encountered an average of 295 unaccompanied children per day, with a total of 8,777 for the whole month.
The monthly report noted its efforts to combat forced labor, partly by preventing the trade and shipment of goods it produces. CBP and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been working together to stop forced labor products from being able to enter the U.S. in an effort to protect human rights.
Along with identifying operations of forced labor, CBP also plays a large role in identifying human trafficking. To that end, information is shared amongst the officials of multiple organizations and agencies to provide criminal referrals, conduct officer training, and carrying out suspension and debarment actions.
The report additionally states over 1,600 shipments seized during trade operations in January were found to be counterfeit goods. The value of those shipments amounted to over $268 million.
Nationwide drug seizures included cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl. From December 2021 to January 2022, seizures of: cocaine decreased by 69%, methamphetamine decreased by 45%, heroin decreased by 85%, and fentanyl increased by 57%.
Restricted and prohibited plant and animal products resulted in 5,759 agriculture seizures for the month.
According to the report, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 22,327 employees of CBP tested positive, and sixty-four of them have died due to complications.
CBP’s press release notes the agency strives to be transparent with all of their findings and reports all information to the public with a focus on accuracy.
