While the U.S. Customs and Border Protection clocked a record of more than 2.3 border crossings in fiscal year 2022, that number only tells one part of the story. Individuals can cross the border more than once and many who enter, stay only briefly: Hundreds of thousands of the people apprehended at the border are sent back to their countries or Mexico.
New analysis of immigration court filings from Syracuse University offers an approximation of how many border crossers were allowed in and now face deportation.
INTERACTIVE TIMELINE: 40 years of U.S. border policy, from Reagan and Bush to Biden
The research found 880,855 individuals who are facing new deportation cases. These numbers are driven by border crossings. The cases will likely end in a deportation order if applicants fail to win asylum – which is very difficult to do – unless the applicants find another way to remain legally in the U.S.
Syracuse University data analyst Austin Kocher said these numbers show the different people impacted by volatility in different parts of the world. “It reflects significant political instability in various major parts of the world.”
A large portion of those migrants ended up in this region. Roughly 42,000 people who crossed the border in fiscal year 2022 were headed to the Houston area, according to an analysis of Houston-area court filings.
The following are the top ten nationalities of people of migrants to the U.S. and the numbers of each that came to Houston. While these court filings in the U.S. and Houston are driven by border crossings, there isn’t publicly-available data to provide a direct measure of those released into the country.
1. Cubans
Roughly 118,000 Cubans were let into the country and had new immigration cases in 2022 calendar year.
Houston was among the most popular destinations for Cubans last year.
During the 2022 fiscal year, roughly 7,558 cases for Cubans were sent to Houston’s three immigration courts – more than any other court system outside of Houston.
RECORD NUMBERS: Cubans arrive at border in record numbers, with thousands headed to Houston, an emerging destination
Houston-area refugee resettlement groups have been overwhelmed with Cuban arrivals over the past year. The metro area is becoming an increasingly important landing point for Cuban immigrants, and it may continue to see growth as political repression, food scarcity and other country conditions push people out of Cuba and the United States continues to allow Cubans in.
YMCA International Services Program Specialist Oriana Davila checks in refugees, most recently arriving Cubans, for orientation Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Houston.
Yi-Chin Lee / Staff photographer2. Venezuelans
In fiscal year 2022, Houston was an intended destination for more Venezuelans with new deportation cases than people of any other nationality, according to Houston-area immigration court filings driven by border crossings.
Houston-area courts saw more than 9,000 individuals with new immigration cases while nearby Dallas-area courts saw more than 11,000 Venezuelans headed to the region in fiscal year 2022.
TEXAS POLITICS: Record surge of Venezuelan asylum seekers strains Texas border
Venezuelans were the second largest group to receive “notice to appear” requests in immigration courts nationwide in 2022. These court notices begin the deportation process.
More than 6 million Venezuelans have left home due to the ongoing corruption, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. This mass displacement was spurred by economic mismanagement and corruption ushered in by authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, which has led to shortages of food, medicine and other necessities.
Franco Centeno, 27 (left) shivers while he waits with a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to arrive. His friend, Jean Nava, 32, tries to keep him warm. Both are from Caracas, Venezuela.
Jessica Phelps, Staff photographer / San Antonio Express-News3. Nicaraguans
Nicaraguans accounted for more than 90,000 new immigration filings by border crossings in 2022.
Nicaraguans have dealt with an autocratic president Daniel Ortega, who has “dismantled nearly all institutional checks on presidential power,” according to analysis by Human Rights Watch, which described it as a country with rampant police abuse, as well as “severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, political discrimination, and stringent restrictions on abortion.”
In Houston-area courts, Nicaraguans accounted for roughly 5,000 of new immigration court filings among people facing deportation.
4. Colombia
Immigration court filings showed border crossings by Colombians amounted to about 84,000 in 2022.
Colombia has suffered high unemployment and economic inequality, exacerbated by the pandemic, and very few Colombians believe the instability in the country will diminish, according to a World Bank Report on the impact of the pandemic. The job and income losses wiped out a decade of progress in reducing poverty, the World Bank found.
Houston-area court filings show some 2,000 Colombians were headed to the area in the last fiscal year.
More from Elizabeth Trovall: How does Biden’s big border plan measure up against past plans to curb illegal immigration?
5. Honduras
Houston was a major destination for Hondurans in the last fiscal year – nearly 9,000 received new notices to appear in local immigration courts.
It was the fifth most common nationality to enter the country and face deportation — roughly 69,000 people, according to 2022 Syracuse University analysis of immigration court records.
6. Haiti
Chaotic conditions in Haiti – as well as poor treatment and few opportunities for Haitian migrants in Latin America – spurred tens of thousands of Haitians to come to the U.S. in 2022. Some 56,000 were let into the U.S. in 2022 with notices to appear.
HAITIAN ODYSSEY: From Haiti to Texas: Inside migrants’ perilous 10,000-mile journey
Relatively few of Haitians were headed to the Houston area – just over 100 during last fiscal year.
Haitian migrants play dominoes at the Terraza Fandango migrant shelter, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. For about two months, a former dance hall one mile from the Del Rio International Bridge has served as a concrete makeshift shelter for hundreds of Haitians who decided not to risk crossing into the United States for fear of being sent home.
Marie D. De Jesús/Houston Chronicle7. Mexico
Some 55,000 Mexicans were allowed into the U.S. and face new deportation cases, according to 2022 data. Of that group, roughly 1,000 have pending cases in Houston-area courts.
8. Guatemala
Roughly 2,000 Guatemalans had their new immigration court cases assigned to Houston-area courts in fiscal year 2022. Guatemalans came in 8th in terms of how many border crossers passed into the U.S. — some 46,000 people.
MORE IMMIGRATION STORIES: Houston judges are denying up to 100% of asylum cases in immigration courts
9. Peru
Political unrest in Peru last year may have sparked an uptick in Peruvian arrivals at the southwest border in 2022. Now ousted President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Peru’s Congress, which prompted mass protests.
More than 43,000 Peruvians received new notices to appear in U.S. immigration courts, driven by border crossings, during 2022.
In fiscal year 2022, Houston-area courts saw 200 border-driven new immigration cases from the region.
An immigrant mother from Peru rests with her son after crossing the border from Mexico on May 19, 2022 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Mario Tama, Staff / Getty Images10. Russia
As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, Russians have arrived at the southwest border by the thousands.
In the 2022 calendar year, some 30,000 Russians were facing deportation from new immigration cases, driven by border crossings.
A fraction of these cases landed in Houston – less than a 100, according to the fiscal year data.
Source link
