The number of migrants that cross from Mexico to the United States It has been fired, reaching record numbers. The facilities Border Patrol and ICE, the agency that enforces customs and immigration laws with an iron fist, see overflowedas well as immigration courts, shelters, charitable organizations and even the streets of towns on both sides of the border where migrants are overcrowded.
Several mayors have declared the state of emergency, and not only in places close to the border such as El Paso or Brownsville, in Texas, but in cities thousands of kilometers away such as New York or Chicago. And Washington has approved the dispatch of 1,500 soldiers that will increase to 4,000 those deployed to give logistical and administrative support to those in charge of immigration.
The situation on the US southern border is always complex, difficult and tense, sometimes critical. But all of those elements are intensifying. Because one minute before midnight Thursdayand as a consequence of the fin the national emergency by Covid, Title 42 will cease to apply, that under the commands of donald trump and of Joe Biden has been used for expel quickly to migrants alleging the risk they could represent to public health. And for the purpose of that regulation, a rising human tide is expectedand the country looks to a crisis of unforeseeable consequences. not only in terms humanitarianbut also politicians.
“Chaos for a while & rdquor;
The Biden Administration has been preparing for this moment for two years. This same Wednesday officialized a series of measures that will be applied from Friday. These include some, not exempt from controversythat toughen the conditions to apply for asylum and Illegal crossings are harshly punishedand others with which they open ways to try to promote legal immigration. But the president himself acknowledged on Tuesday that “it remains to be seen& rdquor; that the transition to the new regulations will be orderly. And he recognized:things are going to be chaotic for a while.”
Also your Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said this Wednesday at a press conference that the government is “aware of the challenges that they will possibly face in the coming days and weeks & rdquor ;, who admitted that they have “the potential to be very difficult”. And he assured that his plan will give results, “but It will take time.”
“The lifting of Title 42 does not mean that the border is open, in fact, it is the opposite & rdquor ;, Mayorkas also said in that appearance. It was a reminder that I was gonethey will intensify the punishments for those who cross illegally, including the effective application of Title 8, part of the US Code, which will veto re-entry for five years for those who are detained and expelled and will impose prison sentences and economic fines to those who repeat the attempt after an expulsion. In addition, the US will assume that those who do not use the established legal channels to enter the country are ineligible to apply for asylum.
a human growth
That of Mayorkas was also the umpteenth attempt by the authorities to send a forceful message that reaches the migrants looking for discourage that they begin the trip, but that runs into the disinformation who are spreading the trafficking networks and with the despair of many, who arrive mainly from countries of Central and South America but also from countries like China, India, African nations or Ukraine.
The human spate has already begun, in any case. On three days last week, an average of 8,700 migrants were intercepted per day, 67% more than the average of 5,200 in March, and according to the calculations of the Department of Homeland Security as of Friday, there may be more than 10,000 a dayimpossible to assume in processing centers that, with 28,000 migrants already, are at the limit.
In it North of mexicoaccording to Washington calculations cited by CNN, this weekend there were 150,000 migrants waiting to make their way to the US. And on Fox News, a Republican congressman denounced on Monday that the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, assures that there are more than 80,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, headed north.
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Washington will try to stem that tide, beyond the new rules, with further deployment of personnel and resources. In addition to the reinforcement of 1,500 soldiers, for example, more than 1,400 officials from the Department of Homeland Security and 1,000 coordinators who must help speed up the processing of cases. Going to expand the capacity of border patrol facilities by 50% to welcome migrants and the Department of Health and Human Services will do the same for the number of beds for unaccompanied minors. In addition, they have been allocated $250 million in additional aid for communities receiving migrants and they have also intensified number of deportation flights (although for example Colombia has stopped them).
Mayorkas recalled this Wednesday that what the Administration is doing is “giving short term solutions to a problem that dates back decades & rdquor; and urged Congress to approve not only reforms but appropriations of resources. But for decades all immigration-related legislation has been muddy in the US, stagnant in partisan wars and turned into a political weapon. At the gates of the 2024 presidential election, and with him split camera controlthat situation has no sign of changing.