The US military has strengthened border security to prevent the illegal entry of people.
Hours before the conclusion of Title 42, a policy that allowed the United States (EU) to deport migrants expressly, due to the health emergency caused by COVID-19, the Border Patrol reported that it detained 2,500 undocumented immigrants who tried to enter to the U.S.
The foreigners made this decision prior to the implementation of Title 8, a norm that has historically governed migration in the US, and which imposes more severe punishments such as the opening of a criminal trial for illegally entering North American territory.
Those waiting in Mexico shed their clothes before descending a sloping bank into the Rio Grande, clinging to plastic bags filled with their belongings. A man was carrying a baby in an open suitcase on his head.
On the American side, others put their dry clothes back on and made their way through wired fence. Many immediately turned themselves in to authorities in hopes of being released while their cases move through crowded immigration courts, which can often take years.
For Úrsula Roldán, a specialist in Human Mobility, the treatment of migrants going to the United States could worsen with Title 8, which could worsen violations of the human rights of people in transit.
Chaos and despair grow on the northern border.
On the last day of Title 42, chaos and desperation grew on Mexico’s northern border, where migrants have attempted to cross into the United States in masse with tactics such as jumping into the Rio Grande and mounting human stampedes.
On the border between Matamoros, Tamaulipas and Brownsville, Texas, in the southern United States, migrants have been preparing these days for the end of Title 42, a health regulation that allows immediate expulsions of migrants at the border.
In the previous hours, the US military has installed a security barrier, that is, coiled razor wire, to prevent irregular crossings on the banks of the Rio Grande, to contain migrants.
But, despite this, foreigners continue to jump into the water to reach US soil and, although some have been returned by the same flow to Mexico, others have made it through, mainly because they bring minors with them.
In the last 24 hours, groups of migrants, mostly Venezuelans, have entered the river that divides both countries and, although the authorities have tried to inhibit the action, families continue to filter along the river.
This occurs in the face of the uncertainty brought by the entry into force of Title 8, which implies “rapid and massive expulsions of migrant citizens who fail to comply with US regulations” to enter that country.
“We do not know what other law will come that can protect us, that can give us that security that we are going to pass to the United States. So, we made the decision to risk it,” declared a Venezuelan who preferred to remain anonymous.
On the Mexican side, agents from the National Institute of Migration (INM) stationed themselves at the points where there was a flow of migrants, while the US military placed the sharp wire fence to prevent their passage and even yelled at them to return to Mexico.
With the new obstacle extended and the Federal Forces, there were migrants who did not cross that barrier and returned through the Rio Grande to Matamoros.
Republican lawmakers propose to resume construction of the wall.
The US Republican legislators carried out yesterday in the Lower House a bill that advocates resuming the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico, but that will be stopped by the Democrats as soon as the parliamentary process continues.
The initiative was approved by 219 votes in favor and 213 against, but it has no prospects of prospering, because the Senate is in the hands of the Democrats and the country’s president, Joe Biden, has already warned that he will veto it if it arrives to his office.
The conservatives reproach the Democratic Administration for having maintained an “open door” policy on the southern border during these two years in office, which, in their opinion, has caused “a humanitarian and national security crisis.”
His bill says it fulfills its own promise to Americans to “provide solutions to a crisis that affects not just cities and states along the border, but to cities and states across the country.
His flagship measure aims to resume the construction of a wall between Mexico and the United States seven days after its promulgation. It was one of the main promises of Donald Trump in his 2016 election campaign, but it was not completed, and Biden halted the works when he arrived at the White House in January 2021.
The bill has been promoted by Florida legislator Mario Díaz-Balart, of Cuban origin, and asks to use the funds granted in this regard in October 2019 and that have not yet expired.
He also wants there to be 24-hour operational drones over the border, a minimum of 110,000 annual flight hours of surveillance by the Air Force, and to authorize the Department of Homeland Security to transfer asylum seekers to safe third countries “without the current need for bilateral agreements with those countries”.
The vote took place yesterday, hours before Title 42 expired, a regulation that under the pretext of the pandemic had allowed immigrants to be expedited.
Migrants cross the obstacles to try to enter the United States, from Matamoros, on the last day of Title 42.
The treatment of migrants may worsen.
The treatment of migrants who go to the United States could be worse by the end of Title 42, and therefore, it is feared that violations of the human rights of migrants could be violated, in the opinion of the expert Úrsula Roldán.
“The fear is that with the end of Title 42 in the US, thousands of migrants will be stranded, for example, in Guatemala, a country without socioeconomic conditions to attend to the emergency,” explained Roldán, a researcher specializing in Human Mobility.
With the loss of validity of Title 42, the immigration security of the United States will be governed by the traditional immigration measure that imposes more severe punishments such as the opening of criminal proceedings for entering the North American country irregularly.
In addition, the United States announced the creation of migrant processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia to reduce arrivals at its border with Mexico after the end of Title 42.
“The violation of the rights of migrants intensified with Title 42,” Roldán since, in her opinion, the regulations limited the possibility of people in transit to opt for asylum in the United States.
The expert warned that enabling Guatemala as a waiting center for asylum applications “is a risk” because this country does not have the resources to address the humanitarian crisis.
What comes next?
As of 11:59 p.m. yesterday US Eastern Time, Title 42 restrictions will be lifted.
Biden has implemented a series of new policies that combat illegal crossings. The government says it is trying to stop people paying for smuggling operations to make a dangerous and often deadly journey.
Now there will be strict consequences. Migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return to the United States for five years. If they do, they will face a criminal trial.
New rules for asylum
Under US and international law, anyone arriving in the United States can apply for asylum.
People from all over the world arrive at the country’s border with Mexico to ask for it. They are screened to determine if they truly have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland. Then their case goes to the immigration court system to consider whether they can stay in the United States, but that process can take years. They are usually released on US soil to wait for their cases to be resolved.
Who is allowed in?
The United States has said it will accept up to 30,000 people a month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba, if they arrive by air, have a sponsor and apply online first. The Government will also allow up to 100,000 people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to enter the United States increase the urgency to leave the southern border of Mexico.
The urgency of migrants to leave the southern border of Mexico and cross the country increased on the last day of Title 42 in the United States, a fact that they perceive as their opportunity to reach that country.
Migrants demanded a permit to transit through Mexico yesterday in Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, where tens of thousands have arrived in recent days with the expectation of reaching the United States without suffering immediate deportation.
Just yesterday morning some four thousand migrants arrived in the city, where amid shoving and shouting they fought for a place in the lines so that the Mexican authorities could take care of them and begin a first trip of about a thousand kilometers to the capital of the country.
“Everyone is going to pass, in order, don’t push each other, we are going to attend to all of you,” the agents of the National Institute of Migration (INM) promised through a loudspeaker.
Martín Santos is a Honduran migrant who works in construction and travels with a friend on this journey that he believes has become hell for many Central Americans.
Migrants line up while waiting to regularize immigration documents in Tapachula.
NY says it has run out of space for migrants.
The end of the asylum restrictions imposed during the pandemic could send a new wave of asylum seekers to New York City, a place that has long prided itself on welcoming the masses yearning for freedom. But as immigrants concentrated on the southern border of the United States, Mayor Eric Adams warned that his city could not accommodate the expected influx.
City officials, hoping to receive busloads of immigrants from Texas and other border states, have considered housing the newcomers in hangars, a racetrack, gyms or even tents in Central Park. Others could end up on the streets, activists fear, despite the city’s court-ordered commitment to provide all residents with access to a place to stay.
In the face of what he described as a “humanitarian crisis,” Adams, a Democrat, has taken a series of steps aimed at easing pressure on the city’s overwhelmed shelter system.
Source: El Informador
