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(Trends Wide) — The Joe Biden administration will implement unprecedented measures to impose consequences on migrants who cross the border irregularly, after the border policy known as Title 42, implemented during the covid-19 pandemic, ends this week. However, officials admit that the high number of apprehensions at the border in the coming days will continue to present a great challenge.
President Joe Biden put it simply Tuesday: “It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”
Since Biden took office, government officials have known that Title 42 would have to go away at some point as the pandemic, on which the authority is based, recedes. The rule became a source of tension, both within the administration and politically, as Democrats criticized the administration for not ending it and Republicans sought to extend it.
Now, more than two years after Biden’s presidency began and after the announcement that he will seek re-election, the rule will expire this Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Miami time, coinciding with the end of the public health emergency. by covid-19. And it will pose an immediate challenge to the international community, and an immediate challenge to the administration.
“This is an unprecedented moment in the Americas,” a senior administration official said Tuesday. “Twenty million people are displaced across the region. The covid-19 pandemic and political insecurity, as well as climate change, have exacerbated what normally pushed people to emigrate.”
Administration officials are putting plans in place to try to manage the flow. US border authorities encountered more than 10,000 migrants along the US southern border on Tuesday, according to a Homeland Security official, already exceeding government estimates after Title 42 went into effect just days after it was signed. expiration.
Among the new policy measures the administration is putting in place is a new asylum rule that will largely bar migrants who have passed through another country from seeking asylum in the United States. The rule, proposed earlier this year, will presume that migrants cannot apply for asylum in the United States if they have not first sought refuge in a country they have transited through, such as Mexico, on their way to the border. Migrants who obtain an appointment through the CBP One app will be exempt, according to authorities.
If migrants do not meet the requirements for asylum, they could be removed through the expedited removal process, known as “expedited removal,” which would bar them from entering the United States for five years.
The Administration also plans to return Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border illegally to Mexico, marking the first time the United States has returned non-Mexican citizens across the border.
Both policies have been sharply criticized by Biden allies, who argue they are too restrictive and in breach of US law, as well as Biden’s campaign commitments to restore asylum.
But senior administration officials stress that the measures are necessary to encourage people to use legal avenues to come to the United States. That includes parole programs for eligible nationalities to apply to enter the US and expanding access to an application for migrants to make an appointment to appear at a port of entry.
The State Department also plans to open 100 regional processing centers in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can apply to enter the United States, although the timetable is unclear.
“However, we have combined this measure with a series of serious consequences for foreigners who, despite having these options at their disposal, continue to cross the border illegally,” another senior Administration official told the press on Tuesday.
But the challenge facing border officials also comes down to logistics.
As of this Wednesday morning, there were more than 28,000 migrants in the custody of the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to the Homeland Security official.
Asked by Trends Wide on Tuesday what steps authorities will take to reduce the number of migrants in custody, the senior administration official said they were working closely with non-governmental organizations and had expanded transportation contracts.
“We have been moving some people laterally along the border to other parts of the border where there is more capacity,” the senior administration official said, adding: “Over the past few days we have encountered a large number of We registered it in the lead up to the possible lifting of Title 42 in May of last year and again in December. And we are registering it again.”
CBP has opened two new holding facilities, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasing removal flights. The Department of Health and Human Services, charged with serving unaccompanied migrant minors, is also increasing its capacity.
The Department of Homeland Security also deployed up to 1,000 asylum officers to interview asylum seekers, “hundreds” of additional law enforcement officers from other agencies within the department, hired “thousands” of staff and received the help of 400 volunteers. the officials said.
“We believe there is a strong set of measures in place that will, over time, reduce these flows, but there is no doubt that the first days and weeks will be difficult,” said the senior administration official.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, praised this Wednesday the “effectiveness of our approach” to stop the migratory flow on the border between the United States and Mexico, while criticizing Congress for not passing legislation to repair “an immigration system broken”.
Mayorkas highlighted the drastic decrease in border encounters with migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela after the institution of a humanitarian permit program for migrants from those countries, noting that, to date, more than 100,000 people from those countries have arrived legally to the US
“At the same time, we are aware of the challenges we are likely to face in the coming days and weeks, which can be very difficult,” Mayorkas said. “We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors. This is putting incredible pressure on our staff, our facilities and our communities, with whom we work closely. Our plan will deliver results, but it will take time for those results to fully materialize. , and it is essential that we all take this into account.”
And he repeated a direct warning to migrants seeking to enter the US, noting that just because Title 42 expires this Thursday, that “doesn’t mean our border is open.”
— Trends Wide’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.
