According to a report released by the US government on Friday, the number of immigrants deported in 2022 increased by 29% to 4.7 million.

Statistics published by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division pertaining to the Department of Homeland Security, US border guards reportedly detained at least 2.3 million migrants in the last year, which record more than any previous year. 

Temperatures have dropped to 19°F here in El Paso, where some migrants continue to be stranded on the street.

The city has even parked a bus here just so that those who are awake can get warm. Other migrants, including families, continue sleeping under blankets. pic.twitter.com/muNbsEMQzb

— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) December 23, 2022

The 2.3 million figure represents a 37% increase over the previous figure of 1.7 million detentions. According to reports, CBP officials have detained at least 465,000 migrants since the new fiscal year began in October.

The procedure is as follows: after crossing the US-Mexico border, migrants are held at a CBP facility until they are released by border officials and served with documents to appear in court, at which point they are no longer in federal custody and are free to travel across the country, but many are still waiting months for case hearings due to legal and procedural backlogs.

US CBP agents are notorious for the abuse and mistreatment of migrants and the procedures of keeping them safe while fleeing dangerous regions to find security. 

Human Rights Watch found last year October shocking cases of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers at the southern US border by federal authorities following a years-long struggle to extract evidence from the Department of Homeland Security. 

The abuses range from juvenile sexual abuse to forced starvation, rape threats, and harsh circumstances.

US-Mexico crossings are often described as a “border crisis" by media outlets, as the millions of migrants flee persecution, increasing poverty, and skyrocketing crime by drug cartels, followed by US-backed coups. 

Hundreds of migrants, including children, who were not allowed entry into the US are left to fend for themselves, living on the streets in sub-zero temperatures.

Political pawns

In September, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Republican governors sending migrants to northern cities, such as New York, Washington, and Chicago, use migrants as "political pawns."

"Republican governors interfering in that [US immigration] process and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing.

Earlier in June, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador cautioned that the United States is struggling to manage its southern border, accusing it of "lack of control" after more than 50 immigrants got killed while being smuggled into the country.

The grim discovery was one of the worst disasters involving migrants in recent years, occurring five years after a similar deadly incident in the same central Texas city of San Antonio, just hours from the Mexican border.