Illegal immigration from countries in Asia, Africa is surging

The number of immigrants from overseas who tried to illegally enter the United States increased two to three times over the last couple of years. The trend covers not just the U.S. southern border, but entry points around the country. 

In October 2021, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials encountered 15,076 people from China, India, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Burma, Romania and the Philippines trying to illegally enter the U.S.

In October 2023, there were 32,332 encounters. That number includes entries through the southern, northern borders and everywhere else in between, including plane and boat travel.

However, when adding data from what CBP classifies as “other” countries, including many middle eastern and African nations, the number of encounters is three times higher. There were 21,664 encounters in October 2021 and 61,987 in October 2023. 

The data can be broken down further to show an increase in immigrants who are crossing oceans to enter the U.S. through the southern border. In October 2021, that number was was 5,583 and 31,185 in October 2023. These increases can be seen throughout the year. 

Social media has played a factor in these increases.

Immigrants are posting videos of their journey on TikTok and other sites to be seen by their friends back home and shared around the world.

TikTok user Carlos Nunez posted a video of himself in the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous parts of the journey north, which now has 400,000 views. Nunez posted that video in October. In mid-December, he posted a video from New York’s Times Square titled in Spanish, “Dreams do come true.”

@soycarlos18

los sueños se cumplen gente #migranteslatinos🇺🇲🇺🇲 #venezolanosenelmundo #viraltiktok #viraltiktok #viralvideo #timessquarenyc

♬ sonido original – Carlos Nuñez

Reporting from The Washington Post shows that CBP is finding men from China, India and Turkey crossing in Southern California. The agency is also reporting families from Mexico, Central America and men from Africa crossing in the Arizona desert. CBP officials said those demographic patterns are signs of smuggler-directed operations. 

“The numbers we are seeing now are unprecedented,” Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller told the Post.

Miller also told the Post he could not remember a time since 9/11 when there were so many ports of entry closed. CBP moved customs agents from certain ports to help Border Patrol with processing. As a result, the agency closed two rail crossings, a port of entry in Texas and a pedestrian entry in California. 

In Washington, the Senate and Biden administration are trying to reach an agreement on asylum and parole reforms that would be included in a bill to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific Region. However, Congress has gone home for the holidays, so the earliest a deal can get done now is the first or second week of January.