Tens of thousands of migrants from South América have flown into México and crossed into a remote part of Arizona since late summer, as word spreads far beyond Central América that the United States’s southern border is penetrable, according to two people familiar with the change in migration trends.
By Washington Examiner – Anna Giaritelli
Oct 22, 2021
More than 7,000 Brazilians and Venezuelans were encountered illegally crossing the border near Yuma in August, an unusually high number of people to come from countries outside the usual El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and México, whose citizens most often flee to the U.S.
Officials who work in the Yuma region told the Washington Examiner that the 7,000 figure rose considerably through September and October.
“Each and every single person has airline tickets to México,” said one person who works with migrants in federal custody. The official asked to remain anonymous. “Venezuelans are saying, ‘Oh, I left three days ago.'”
Border Patrol agents and contractors on site where migrants are held and processed have been shocked by how much money the migrants are carrying, the same official said. Migrants who come from Central American countries typically cross the border with the clothes on their back and nothing else.
“We are surprised with the amount of money that especially Venezuelans and Brazilians arrive with. The minimum that I’ve seen a Venezuelan with, cash money, roughly I’m going to say is about $500,” the same person said. “They come with luggage — name-brand luggage.”
Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director for immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, said middle-class departures from South América are likely the result of complex situations back home where poverty, corruption in government, and effects of the coronavirus pandemic have made life very difficult.
“Their middle-class lifestyle is gone and with the last of the remaining money they are trying to come to the United States where they can maintain that middle-class lifestyle,” Brown said in a phone call.
These migrants, unlike those from Central America, are not traveling to the U.S. on foot or by vehicle. Most fly into México City or cities on México’s northern border then take buses north or cabs if they fly to the border. Migrants walk across the border in an area where wall construction was halted. The gap in the massive wall essentially funnels illegal traffic to this one area.
South American migrants who fly into México have obtained permits from the Mexican government that allow them to travel through the country on the basis that they are migrating to the U.S. Those presenting to Border Patrol in Yuma have airline tickets and the permits in hand, as well as identification documents, the first official said.
Border Patrol was apprehending around 1,000 people in Yuma three weeks ago, an extraordinarily high figure. The law enforcement agency brought in agents from other regions and set up tents outside to hold migrants while they were processed. In early October, around 4,000 people were in federal custody in Yuma alone, according to Rafa Rivera, the National Border Patrol Council’s president for the Yuma chapter, which represents Border Patrol agents. Around 1,000 people sat down a long hallway, waiting to be processed.
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Read More: Washington Examiner – Tens of thousands of Brazilians and Venezuelans illegally cross US-México border
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