A record number of illegal immigrants from Venezuela crossed the U.S. southern border in September, according to Department of Homeland Security preliminary data.
Around 50,000 Venezuelans illegally entered the U.S. last month, shattering the monthly record of 34,000 set in September 2022, according to the DHS data that was obtained by CBS News on Wednesday. The data show that on some days, up to 3,000 Venezuelan migrants crossed the border, and illegal immigrants from the country made up roughly one-quarter of the more than 200,000 Border Patrol apprehensions in September.
The spike in illegal crossings made by Venezuelan nationals came the same month that the Biden administration gave permission to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from Venezuela to stay and work in the U.S. as federal officials insist it would be unsafe for them to return home.
“Temporary protected status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on September 21. “That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived here on or before July 31 of this year find themselves in.”
More than seven million Venezuelans have fled the socialist regime in recent years, according to the United Nations, as the country faces economic collapse. The Venezuelan crisis has caused the largest migrant exodus in the world, surpassing the migrant exodus in Syria and Ukraine.
After the spike of Venezuelans illegally entering the U.S. in 2022, the Biden administration unveiled a strategy to curb the sky-high numbers by working with the Mexican government to take some Venezuelan nationals. The federal government also worked to allow other migrants to fly to the U.S. if Americans sponsored them. Illegal border crossing by Venezuelans dropped from September 2022 through February 2023, but quickly shot back up before reaching the all-time high last month.
Daily illegal border crossings have neared record highs as border facilities are slammed with migrants and officials are mass releasing illegal immigrants into the U.S. interior while thousands more stream into the country. The strain at the U.S. border is felt by communities from small border towns to major American cities.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced he will visit Latin America this week and personally tell potential migrants not to come to New York City. Since last year, more than 117,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple, and many of them are still being housed and fed on taxpayer dollars. New York City is expected to spend up to $5 billion dealing with the migrant crisis.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.