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African Migrant Apprehensions Spike at Southern US Border

Victoria Macchi

   WASHINGTON - The number of African migrants apprehended by U.S. border
   officials has spiked, from a total of less than a hundred in years
   past, to more than 600 in just the last few weeks.

   The group is part of a small but increasing proportion of migrants from
   countries other than Mexico and Central America who cross into the
   southern United States without authorization.

   While the overwhelming majority of people apprehended by the U.S.
   Border Patrol along the US-Mexico boundary are from Mexico, El
   Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, migrants from outside those areas
   accounted for 4.3% of 303,916[1] total apprehensionsin Fiscal Year
   2017, and 6.8% of 593,507 total apprehensions so far in FY2019, based
   on government data.

   Beginning in late May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP)
   officials in one Texas sector encountered several large groups,
   sometimes with more than 100 people, [2]from African nations, including
   Angola, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of
   Congo, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia.

   "Over the probably the last three or four months, we've seen an
   increase of folks from the continent of Africa'¦ and so this continues
   to be something that is awfully concerning for us," said Raul Ortiz,
   USCBP chief for the Del Rio sector in Texas.

   In FY2018, citizens from the same [3]list of countries accounted for 67
   apprehensions along the entirety of the US-Mexico border, compared to
   some 640 apprehensions in recent weeks, according to data provided by
   Ortiz to VOA on June 7 and earlier USCBP statistics.

   "One of the things we do know is that these folks have been traveling
   for some time -- between four and six months, most of them '¦ and then
   for whatever reason, whether it was the cartels or a smuggling
   organization, have pushed them into our area of responsibility. And so
   we're starting to see and encounter them in and around the river
   country that we're patrolling," Ortiz said.''

References

   1. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions
   2. https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-border-patrol-arrests-153-africans-texas-border
   3. https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/BP%20Apps%20by%20Sector%20and%20Citizenship%20FY07-FY18.pdf

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