(CNSNews.com) – Only 42.1 percent of the “deportable aliens” that the
U.S. Border Patrol apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal
2017 were citizens of Mexico, according to data collected by U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.
A significant majority—57.9 percent—came from 111 other countries.
In
fact, during fiscal year 2017, the Border Patrol apprehended deportable
aliens along the U.S.-Mexico border who came from 84 countries that are
not in the Americas.
In fiscal 2017, according to U.S. Customs
and Border Protection, the Border Patrol apprehended a total of 310,531
“deportable aliens” in all 20 Border Patrol sectors. (These include nine
sectors along the Southwest Border with Mexico, eight along the
Northern Border with Canada, and three along the nation’s Coastal
Border.)
Of the total 310,531 “deportable aliens” the Border
Patrol apprehended, 303,916 (or about 97.9 percent) were apprehended in
the nine sectors along the Southwest Border with Mexico.
Of these
303,916 deportable aliens apprehended along the Southwest Border,
175,978 (or 57.9 percent) were citizens of countries other than Mexico
and 127,938 (or 42.1 percent) were citizens of Mexico.
The top
three countries that ranked after Mexico for having their citizens
apprehended as deportable aliens along the U.S.-Mexico border were
Central American countries. These were Guatemala (65,871), El Salvador
(49,760) and Honduras (47,260), which ranked second, third and fourth.
But India ranked fifth.
In fiscal 2017, the Border Patrol apprehended along the Southwest Border 2,963 deportable aliens who were citizens of India.
In
fact, the Border Patrol apprehended more citizens of India in its nine
sectors along the U.S.-Mexico border than citizens of Brazil (2,621) or
Ecuador (1,429), which ranked sixth and seventh for having deportable
aliens apprehended on the Southwest Border.
The Peoples Republic
of China ranked eighth, with the Border Patrol apprehending 1,364
Chinese citizens along the Southwest Border in fiscal 2017.
That
put China ahead of Nicaragua, which ranked ninth. The Border Patrol
apprehended 1,057 Nicaraguans along the Southwest Border in fiscal 2017.
Among
the Top 41 countries whose citizens were apprehended by the Border
Patrol along the Southwest Border, 21 were not in the Americas.
In
addition to India (2,943) and China (1,364), these included Nepal
(647), Bangladesh (564), Romania (433), Pakistan (224), Albania (49),
Vietnam (49), Somalia (48), Sri Lanka (48), Kosovo (45), Turkey (35),
Nigeria (28), Ghana (14), Afghanistan (14), Saudi Arabia (14), Israel
(11), Jordan (10), South Korea (10), France (9), and Hungary (9).
Notably,
the deportable aliens from Nepal (647), Bangladesh (564), Romania (433)
and Pakistan (224) that the Border Patrol apprehended along the
Southwest border in fiscal 2017 exceeded those apprehended from Columbia
(196), Dominican Republic (181), Cuba (147), Venezuela (73) and Haiti
(57).
Additionally, the Border Patrol apprehended deportable
aliens who are citizens of nations outside the Americas more often at
the U.S.-Mexico border than at the Northern Border or the Coastal
Border.
For example, while the Border Patrol apprehended 2,943
Indian citizens at the Southwest Border, it apprehended only 168 at the
Northern Border, and 24 at the Coastal Border. Similarly, the Border
Patrol apprehended 1,364 Chinese citizens at the Southwest Border, but
only 32 at the Northern Border and 17 at the Coastal Border.
The
Border Patrol apprehended 647 Nepalese at the Southwest Border, but
only 1 at the Northern Border and none at the Coastal Border. It
apprehended 564 Bangladeshis at the Southwest Border, but only 9 at the
Northern Border, and 1 at the Coastal Border.
The Border Patrol
apprehended 433 Romanians at the Southwest Border, but only 13 at the
Northern Border and only 4 at the Coastal Border. It apprehended 224
Pakistanis at the Southwest Border, but only 9 at the Northern Border
and none at the Coastal Border.
According to the Department of
Homeland Security an apprehension is: “The arrest of a removable alien
by the Department of Homeland Security. Each apprehension of the same
alien in a fiscal year is counted separately.”
According to DHS,
the term “deportable aliens” includes “any alien illegally in the United
States, regardless of whether the alien entered the country by fraud or
misrepresentation or entered legally but subsequently lost legal
status.”