LOS ANGELES – President Biden’s first immigration crisis has already begun as thousands of families move toward the southwest border in recent weeks, with expectations of a friendly welcome and changes in Mexican policy making it difficult for some to deport some. The migration.
More than 1,000 people detained after the crossing have been released in the country in recent days following the Trump administration’s crackdown on a dam near the border. A lot of people are gathering on the Mexican side, conditions are getting worse there and testing America’s ability and willingness to accept immigrants during the epidemic.
Every day new families sleep in Mexican border towns, on the streets, under bridges, and in dry pits, according to lawyers and aid groups working on the border. In Mexico on Thursday, beyond Calexico, California, desperate migrants can be seen trying to measure the border fence. Over the past few weeks, 1,000 people have flocked to a migration camp near a bridge in Matamoros, Texas, Mexico.
To protect against coronavirus, health officials in San Diego have arranged accommodation for hundreds of arriving migrants at the city’s high-rise hotel, where they are segregated before being allowed to reunite with family or friends in the interior of the United States.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving, and we know the number will only increase dramatically,” said Kate Clark, senior director for immigration services at San Diego’s Jewish Family Service, which provides families. “Clothing and personal hygiene items and help them arrange the next trip.
This is the first major test of Mr Biden’s commitment to a more compassionate US policy on the Mexican border.
The prospect of a large number of expatriates entering the country during the epidemic could generate a public backlash for Mr Biden as his administration takes steps to undo the strict policies laid down by his predecessor.
The new rush will put pressure on the already urgent immigration court under the backlog of asylum cases. Those who support more restricted immigration policies say that migrants who lose their cases may go underground, choose to stay in the country illegally and add an estimated 10 million undocumented people already in the United States.
“It was speculated that there would be virtually no honeymoon for the Biden administration on multiple crises, relocating individuals to Central America and elsewhere in the Northern Triangle,” said Donald Carvin, executive director of Central for Migration Studies. Think Tank.
These include two hurricanes that destroyed many livelihoods and homes in Guatemala and Honduras; The devastating effects of the epidemic on the entire Latin American economy; And constant gang control over many communities, always with extortion and violence.
Mr. Bain’s administration should be credited with the commitment to tackling the situation of overthrowing Central Americans, “Mr. Carwin said,” but this will be a very long process, and in the meantime people have been forced to flee. “
Former President Donald J. Before Trump took office, there was a long-running practice by many administrations that allowed people facing persecution in their home countries to enter the United States and submit asylum applications. Some new migrants were detained until their cases were decided while others were not released.
But Mr. Trump ridiculed policies such as “catch and release” and in 2019 he made it mandatory for applicants to wait in Mexico until their asylum requests were approved or denied. In March last year, his administration recommended a health emergency law to effectively seal the border during an epidemic of health disease, except for citizens and legal residents of the United States. Those who tried to cross were soon deported back to Mexico.
But in recent days Mexico has begun implementing a law passed in November under which children under the age of 12 are held in government custody. As a result, it has stopped accepting Central American families with young children back to Mexico, at least in some parts of the Texas border, forcing the United States to keep it. To avoid keeping large numbers of people in shelters or immigration detention centers during health emergencies, Border Patrol is freeing some of them to reunite with family and friends in the United States.
At least 1,000 migrants have been allowed to enter Texas in recent days, border activists said, although no official estimate has been released by Border Patrol.
It is not clear to what degree Mexico’s new laws apply, except for expulsion from Texas, where Mexico enforces them. Hundreds of migrants have also been released after crossing the border in San Isidro, California, activists said. Possibly the need to avoid congestion at border facilities during an epidemic is also a factor there.
Health authorities in San Diego have ruled that people going to California should stay in a hotel for 10 days, before being allowed to proceed. According to volunteers working with migrants, Texas does not require the same quarantine for migrants who come with any coronavirus symptoms; There, they said, people freed by Border Patrol are allowed to board buses and travel to other places.
The Jewish Family Service, which is helping families with the convenience of their hotel in San Diego, said Border Patrol released 140 migrants in January from the year of December. During the first five days of February, the number exceeded 200.
“This is the busiest we’ve been in for so long,” Ms. Clark said. “We’re working twenty-four hours a day to keep going.”
News of Mexican law has caused widespread confusion, with many immigrants mistakenly believing that the law, with a change of administration, means the United States will now allow anyone to cross.
Mother Isabel Turkios, a nun from Pidras Negras, a small town just off the Eagle Pass in Texas, described a chaotic situation, with dozens of migrants arriving by train every day and stranded in street corners and abandoned houses. Opportunity to cross.
“Many, many mothers come with children,” he said. “They believe they will be allowed to pass, because there is a new president. Some succeed, but not all. ”
“Every day when we return to camp, new families come in,” said Andrea Liner of Global Response Management, which runs two clinics, at the migration camp in Metamoros.
On Tuesday, Border Patrol freed 47 families in Kingsville, Texas and then notified an advocacy group in Houston that the migrants would need help.
Despite the Trump administration’s border shortages, on the southwestern border in fiscal year 2019 – an increase of about 850,000 has been feared. Epidemic-related bans on the movement resulted in a reduction in arrests in fiscal year 2020. Nevertheless, more than 70,000 migrants and asylum seekers were arrested at the border in December during the entire entire month of the Trump administration.
Advocacy groups across the country were expecting Mr Biden’s election to send people north again. In recent weeks, they’ve been calling zoom calls to create a strategy on how to handle the flow.
But the spike came earlier than expected.
Mr Biden said before taking office that he would not open the border immediately in the hope of avoiding the influx of migrants. On February 2, he signed an administrative order directing a full review of the asylum process, but administration officials said it would take time for the current system to change.
“Unfortunately, there are thousands of people and families on the border – thanks to the Trump administration’s brutal and ineffective policies,” said Vedanta Patel, the White House’s assistant press secretary. “These actions will take time and will require a full government approach.”
Despair is growing among asylum seekers on both the California border in Tijuana and Mexico, with misunderstandings being spread through social media and through smuggling networks.
“Confirmation: Minors can enter the United States for 100 days.
In Tijuana, prosecutors report that more families are choosing to cross the border illegally, rather than waiting for clarification on the asylum process, at the risk of being denied entry, waiting for clarification on the asylum process. .
“Immigrants have begun to distrust advocates because we told them the Biden administration would begin processing them immediately after the inauguration – because that was the impression we were getting from the transition team,” said El Otro Lado of the group. Said lawyer Erica Pinhero. .
“After no significant information of the administrative orders came out, many migrants got angry with us and they started listening to smugglers and wild rumors,” he said.
Dozens of families crossed the border illegally near San Isidro on Thursday, but it is not clear if they returned to Mexico or were taken into custody, according to the Border Legal Aid Group.
Ms. of the Jewish Family Service. In San Diego, more hotels lined up to pick up migrants, Clark said. “We need federal resources,” he said.
One of the families allowed on Friday was Jose Giusto Duarte, 1, and his wife, Lian, 45. The couple fled Honduras 18 months ago because of the violence, Mr Duarte said, but was only admitted to the United States this past week. On humanitarian parole due to his wife’s poor health.
The couple has been waiting in Tijuana since they left Honduras, but have decided to try their luck again with Mr Biden in charge.
“Even after such a long wait, I am very relieved and happy at the moment,” Mr Duarte said with a smile. After a few hours in Border Patrol custody, they will be allowed to proceed to the downtown hotel for quarantine.
Alexander Martinez and his three children, who fled the gang in El Salvador, were also cleared last week. After a tedious interview, U.S. authorities transferred him to a hotel where he stayed with dozens of other migrant families under quarantine.
There, they are housed in a double room with a terrace on the third floor. No one knocks on their door three times a day to deliver food in a disposable container. A nurse is called in every day to check their temperature. On Wednesday, they tested everyone for coronavirus. In the coming days, they and relatives will be free to join relatives in Washington.
Mr Martinez said the extra conviction was worth it, even though his kids were really bored in different ways. “We are very happy to be in the United States,” he said.
Miriam Jordan Los Angeles, and report Max Rivlin-Nadler From San Ysidro, Calif.
