US border security agencies recorded more than 2.38 million migrants illegally crossing the southern border in the fiscal year that ended September 30th, the highest ever intercepted coming into the United States, the Associated Press reports.
The number of interdictions increased by 37% over the previous year, reflecting both deteriorating conditions in the South and Central American countries from which the migrants leave, and an increased presence on the border of federal agents working to stop them.
The numbers for September show that most migrants–78,000–are coming from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, not the traditional home nations of border crossers who come from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which accounted for only 58,000.