---
title: "Migrants From India, Romania, Venezuela And Other Far-Flung Places Contribute To Record-Breaking Arrests At U.S.-Mexico Border"
description: "Arrests at the southern border hit record levels over the last year, most of whom hailed from Mexico and Central America — but thousands traveled all the way from South America, Eastern Europe and eve"
type: "news"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/48265324.md"
published_at: "2021-10-23T00:59:33.000Z"
---

# Migrants From India, Romania, Venezuela And Other Far-Flung Places Contribute To Record-Breaking Arrests At U.S.-Mexico Border

> Arrests at the southern border hit record levels over the last year, most of whom hailed from Mexico and Central America — but thousands traveled all the way from South America, Eastern Europe and even India.

## Topline

Arrests at the southern border hit record levels over the last year, with most migrants hailing from Mexico or Central America, but thousands of people who tried to cross into the United States traveled from South America, Eastern Europe and as far away as India.

Haitian immigrants begin their overland journey through the Darien Gap into Panama on October 4, ... \[+\] 2021 in Acandi, Colombia.

Getty Images

## Key Facts

Border Patrol apprehended about 1.66 million people at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2021 fiscal year, which ended in September, making it the busiest year on record.

More than 608,000 arrestees — or 36.6% of last year’s total — were Mexican citizens, and over 40% were from Honduras (308,931 arrests), Guatemala (279,033) and El Salvador (95,930), a trio of countries south of Mexico called the “Northern Triangle.”

Just under 50,000 were from Nicaragua, another Central American country, a jump from around 2,000 in 2020 and around 13,000 in 2019 according to Border Patrol figures.

Hundreds of thousands of people hailing from South America were caught at the border, including nearly 57,000 from Brazil (up from just 7,000 in 2020 and 18,000 in 2019), more than 95,000 from Ecuador (a sevenfold increase over the previous two years) and almost 48,000 from Venezuela (well above 1,000 in 2020 and 2,000 in 2019).

Attempted border-crossings by Haitian citizens exceeded 45,000, which is a tenfold jump from the previous year, including more than 15,000 Haitian migrants who crossed in Texas and stayed in a makeshift camp under a bridge last month.

Some 38,000 Cuban migrants were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, almost four times the totals for 2020 and 2019.

A smaller contingent of migrants traveled from the other side of the world: Some 4,000 were from Romania, almost 1,400 were from Turkey and 2,600 were from India — though the number of migrants apprehended from India actually decreased from more than 7,000 in 2019 and 2018.

## Contra

The number of border arrests doesn’t necessarily match up with the actual number of migrants trying to cross. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. began expelling many border-crossers within hours of getting arrested, causing repeat offenses to increase dramatically. Plus, the Department of Homeland Security estimates that its apprehension rate has soared from under 40% in the early 2000s to nearly 70% in 2018. And 2020’s border figures were unusually low, possibly because of the pandemic, making year-to-year comparisons tricky.

## Surprising Fact

The number of attempted border-crossers who hail from countries other than Mexico has increased dramatically in the last 20 years. Their reasons for traveling thousands of miles to the U.S.-Mexico border vary. Many Central Americans have sought asylum from endemic gang violence, Venezuela’s economic turmoil has fueled a refugee crisis, Covid-related economic upheaval has reportedly pushed some people to migrate, and some Romanian migrants are members of Europe’s long-persecuted Roma ethnic group, PRI’s The World reported. In many cases, people left their home country years before arriving at the border: For example, some Haitian migrants moved to South America after the country’s 2010 earthquake.

## Tangent

For many migrants hailing from South America and beyond, their journey to the border involved traversing the Darien Gap, a dangerous roadless jungle between Panama and Mexico. More than 90,000 people entered Panama via the Darien Gap from January to September, according to government statistics, including hundreds of people from Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal and other further-away countries — though their final destination isn’t clear.

## Key Background

Arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border began surging in early 2021. The sudden jump in migration stretched immigration officials’ resources and initially forced thousands of unaccompanied minors to sleep in crowded makeshift Border Patrol tents. The Biden administration has warned migrants that it’s still rapidly expelling many people who are caught crossing the southern border illegally — especially single adults. Officials have also promised to focus on the root causes of Central American migration, including poverty and violence. Still, many Republicans have tied the surge in migration to President Joe Biden’s decision to ease some of the Trump administration’s strict immigration rules, especially for longstanding undocumented immigrants who don’t pose a public safety threat.

## What To Watch For

The Biden administration says it plans to restart a Trump-era policy in which many asylum-seekers are required to wait for their day in immigration court on the Mexico side of the border. Biden has sharply criticized the program — often called “Remain in Mexico” — on humanitarian grounds, but a judge ordered the government to reinstate it in August.

## Further Reading

Latin American Migration, Once Limited to a Few Countries, Turns Into a Mass Exodus (Wall Street Journal)

### Related Stocks

- [RPAI.US - RETAIL PROPERTIES OF AMERICA INC](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/RPAI.US.md)

## Related News & Research

| Title | Description | URL |
|-------|-------------|-----|
| 沃尔玛四季度财报超预期但盈利指引不及预期，CEO 称 “美国低收入家庭只能勉强维持生计” | 沃尔玛 Q4 营收超预期，新财年盈利指引（每股 2.75-2.85 美元）远低于市场预期的 2.96 美元，显示通胀压力下消费者支出不确定性犹存，拖累股价下跌 1.38%。财报印证 K 型” 分化：高收入家庭驱动增长，低收入群体 “钱包吃紧 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276398633.md) |
| 谷歌突然发布 Gemini 3.1 Pro：核心推理性能直接翻倍 | 谷歌发布了最新的大模型 Gemini 3.1 Pro，其推理性能较去年发布的 Gemini 3 Pro 翻倍。在 ARC-AGI-2 评测中，Gemini 3.1 Pro 得分 77.1%，显示出强大的推理能力。新模型支持多源数据综合和复杂 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276396515.md) |
| 学习英伟达刺激芯片销售，AMD 为 “AI 云” 借款做担保 | AMD 为扩大市场份额祭出金融 “狠招”！为初创公司 Crusoe 的 3 亿美元购芯贷款提供担保，承诺在其无客户时 “兜底” 租用芯片。这一复刻英伟达 “租卡云” 路径的策略虽能短期推高销量，但也令 AMD 在 AI 需求放缓时面临更大的 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276401504.md) |
| 最高法裁决后特朗普动用替补选择：加征 10% 全球关税 | 美国总统特朗普在最高法院裁决后宣布将加征 10% 的全球关税，以补救被推翻的关税措施。根据《1974 年贸易法》第 122 条款，现有的关税将全面生效。最高法院裁定特朗普政府的部分关税措施缺乏法律授权。市场风险提示，投资需谨慎。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276477629.md) |
| 美股盘中速递：Ondas 跌 11.41% 成交量激增，买入评级难阻市场谨慎情绪 | Ondas 跌 11.41%；Lumentum 控股涨 5.33%，成交额达到 20.19 亿美元；思科涨 0.03%，成交额达到 10.27 亿美元；讯远通信涨 5.31%，成交额达到 5.61 亿美元；Arista Networks 跌 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276474753.md) |

---

> **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.