Mexican authorities expect that the majority of asylum seekers living in the camp of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, can enter the United States at the end of next week, according to a source from the Mexican government. However, President Joe Biden’s policies to admit refugees have drawn migrants to the city of Tijuana, in Baja California.
The migrant camp in the city, just across the river from Brownsville, Texas, is currently home to nearly 700 migrants, according to the United Nations refugee agency ( UNHCR ).
Most are asylum seekers waiting in Mexico while their cases go through the courts of the American Union under a program implemented by Donald Trump, former president of the United States.
A week ago, the administration of President Joe Biden began allowing members of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to enter the United States to continue their court cases.
UNHCR spokesperson Silvia Garduño reported that 27 people crossed the border from Mexico on Thursday and 100 on Friday and that the agency expects to continue at this rate in the coming days.
The Mexican government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the goal was for 500 migrants in the Matamoros camp to enter the United States by the end of next week.
Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) sent Reuters a statement from the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) stating that the registration process “will be done as quickly as possible.”
In Matamoros, asylum seekers expressed optimism. “They just gave us the news that we are leaving tomorrow!” Honduran asylum seeker Josué Cornejo said in a video recorded inside the camp on Friday night, which also shows his wife and daughters wiping their tears.
But as one tent city begins to empty in Matamoros, another has sprung up in Tijuana, Baja California.
In Tijuana, migrants encouraged by news that some asylum seekers were allowed to enter the United States began camping near the El Chaparral port of entry, across the border from San Diego, California.
Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) sent Reuters a statement from the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) stating that the registration process “will be done as quickly as possible.”
In Matamoros, asylum seekers expressed optimism. “They just gave us the news that we are leaving tomorrow!” Honduran asylum seeker Josué Cornejo said in a video recorded inside the camp on Friday night, which also shows his wife and daughters wiping their tears.
But as one tent city begins to empty in Matamoros, another has sprung up in Tijuana, Baja California.
In Tijuana, migrants encouraged by news that some asylum seekers were allowed to enter the United States began camping near the El Chaparral port of entry, across the border from San Diego, California.
Advocates estimate that nearly 50 tents have been erected in recent days.
US President Joe Biden is balancing pressure from immigration advocates to relax his predecessor’s hard-line policies with concerns about rising numbers of migrants arriving at the border amid the pandemic of coronavirus.
To handle an anticipated increase in crossings, CBP said in a statement Friday that it planned to open a facility in Eagle Pass, Texas.
The plans for the new location come after CBP announced on February 9 the opening of another temporary facility in Donna, Texas, to handle border processing while the agency’s permanent center in McAllen is renovated.
Under US law, children who arrive at the border without their parents or legal guardians must be transferred quickly from Border Patrol headquarters to shelters run by the government and supervised by the Department of Health and Human Services.
“There are no good options here,” Biden told reporters on Friday. “The only other options are to send the children back, which is what the previous administration did.”
Most migrants caught at the border, including families and individual adult asylum seekers, continue to be swiftly removed at the border under a Trump-era health rule in place since last March.
Source: latinus.us