migrant detentions
Immigrant apprehensions nearly doubled in 2022 compared to 2021 as border authorities found more migrants and courts blocked President Joe Biden’s efforts to limit arrests and target serious criminals.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended nearly 143,000 immigrants in fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30, nearly double the number in 2021, according to data released Friday.
About two-thirds of the apprehensions were of people who only had immigration violations, according to the data. Most were immigrants detained at the US-Mexico border with no criminal convictions or pending charges and who were transferred to ICE, officials said in conversation with reporters.
At the same time, ICE deported some 72,000 migrants to more than 150 countries around the world and removed many more from the United States using Border Patrol agents, relying on pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42.
Deportation, under a statute known as Title 8, is a more formal and lengthy process that can result in long-term bars from re-entry into the United States, compared to removals that can last only hours under Title 42. , a policy that has been in place since the start of the covid pandemic in March 2020.
US Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 2.2 million migrants at the Southwest border in fiscal year 2022. About half of those apprehended were quickly removed under Title 42 policy.
Those who are not removed are released into the country to pursue their immigration applications or are detained by ICE.
According to the ICE report, there are currently more Nicaraguans in detention than any other nationality, as migrants from that country cross with increasing frequency. Generally, Mexico only accepts the expulsion of some nationalities, mainly Mexicans and Central Americans and more recently Venezuelans, under Title 42.
In 2022, in all, the agency held an average of 22,600 people in custody, with another 321,000 enrolled in an “alternatives to detention” program, which requires released migrants to register with ICE.
After Biden, a Democrat, took office in January 2021, his administration issued ICE guidelines to prioritize detaining the most serious criminals and deemphasize other migrants, in contrast to the hardline immigration stance of the Former President Donald Trump, a Republican.
But states with Republican governments challenged those guidelines, and court rulings in favor of Texas and Louisiana paralyzed them. In November, the US Supreme Court heard arguments on the case and a decision is expected by the end of June.
(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington. Editing in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida.)
