https://latinamericanpost.com/45860-us-sees-decrease-in-illegal-border-crossings-in-october
U.S. authorities reported a 14% decrease in illegal border crossings in October, breaking a three-month trend of substantial increases. This reduction comes after arrests had more than doubled over the previous three months as migrants and smugglers adapted to new asylum regulations introduced in May. A large factor towards this decrease is the resumption of deportation flights from Mexico to Venezuela on October 18. The measure was implemented shortly after Venezuelans replaced Mexicans as the largest nationality appearing at the U.S. border. Arrests of Venezuelans plummeted by 45% to 29,637, though they remained the second largest group after Mexicans. The decrease in illegal immigrants is positive for the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum over its immigration policies. The White House’s current approach combines new legal pathways for entry with stricter asylum rules for those crossing illegally.
This has many impacts on U.S. and Mexico relations and showcases the effects instabilities and conflicts have on the region as a whole. U.S. policies are a bit of a balancing act, between providing legal pathways for migration and enforcing border laws. Many of the people trying to immigrate are seeking asylum. Especially from Venezuela, which has millions fleeing due to political and economic instability. Its conflict has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, and rampant disease, crime and mortality rates, all resulting in massive emigration from the country. But there are also massive and long-standing problems with Latin American and Mexican organizations smuggling drugs into the U.S. Mass amounts of undocumented and unknown immigrants coming into the U.S. is a big problem from a security perspective. And as they are coming through the Mexican border, it adds strain to our relationship with Mexico. There are long-standing tensions and issues, but the U.S. has been working more to expand legal routes to seek asylum to the U.S. and create facilities in Mexico for this to happen. Which of course means it’s either many hopeful U.S. immigrants sitting in Mexico, or undocumented immigrants streaming into the U.S. Leading to policies like the one discussed, where they’re just sending Venezualen immigrants back to Venezuela.
In class, we have been discussing different kinds of conflicts. One of these is intra-state conflict, conflict within a state. But action and issues states have are not in a vacuum, and they heavily affect the region around them. Here, this is shown in the case of Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Their conflicts are intra-state. But the issues within create a myriad of problems, in this case discussing refugee crises that can create border issues in surrounding states. And even in far away places, this has great effects. U.S. border patrol has also noticed an increase in illegal Chinese immigrants. This is because of an increase in economic challenges in China, leading some to fly to Ecuador and journey to cross the U.S. border from there.