Venezuelan migrants crossing US border in record numbers, report

A record 17,306-plus Venezuelas have crossed the U.S. border illegally since January, according to a new report Monday.

Just last month, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered 7,484 Venezuelans illegally crossing, the highest per-month number in the past 14 years, according to the Associated Press.

They are among the nearly 6 million who have fled Venezuela since socialist Nicolas Maduro took control of the country in 2013 and part of surge in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border that reached record numbers this year. 

In April, the Border Patrol encounter 178,000 illegal immigrant, the highest monthly total since the early 2000s, according to Customer and Border Protection data. 

Officials say many of the Venezuelans crossing the border this year have for years lived in other Central and South American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, or Honduras.

While crime worsens and economic conditions deteriorate in the region, the recent surge has also been attributed to the new Biden administration signaling a change in the previous Trump administration's strict illegal immigration policy.