Around 40,000 undocumented immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Haiti are expected to try to cross US borders illegally in 2017, according to Representative, Henry Cuellar. Roman Macaya, the ambassador to the US from Costa Rica, has provided the estimate, with the immigrants expected to hit his country before trying to get to Mexico and eventually into the US.
In a news release on Tuesday, Cuellar revealed that around 40,000 immigrants will enter Costa Rica via the border with Panama in 2017. The border between Mexico and the US will be their next likely destination. The Nicaraguan military is currently preventing immigrants in Costa Rica from moving further north.
Last week, Governor Greg Abbott also confirmed that state intelligence sources had warned him that an influx of Haitian and African immigrants was likely. These immigrants will make guarding the US borders even more complex. The borders are already experiencing record numbers of immigrants from Central America, entering the US to flee the violence in their home nations. The situation is likely to create an early test for Donald Trump in his new role as President after his campaign promises to strengthen the border and get tough on illegal immigration.
Cuellar points out that immigration judges are already faced with a backlog of more than 500,000 immigration cases. Over the last year, almost 56,000 undocumented immigrants from Cuba converged on the US border, as well as thousands of families and unaccompanied minors from Central America.