One day after a federal jury in Louisiana temporarily delayed the suspension of Title 42the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insisted on the value of its border protection strategy and released new data on the arrival of irregular immigrants in the country.
In a memorandum Issued Tuesday, DHS describes how it and other federal and community entities “have been taking steps for months to prepare for the lifting of Title 42, while operating within a system that is not designed to handle the current volume of migrants or the increased volume that we expect over the coming months.”
Title 42 is a prerogative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued in March 2020 under the administration of President Donald Trump, as a result of the pandemic, through which the authorities are authorized to expel expeditiously to immigrants who arrive irregularly in the country.
On Monday, a federal judge from the state of Louisiana left without effecttemporarily, the White House order to end Title 42.
The plan outlined by the DHS consists of six key points, and seeks to increase funds for border protection, speed up the processing of migrants, appeal much more to the use of expedited deportations, expand the capacity of aid groups, move towards human traffickers and continue working in regional cooperation, in order to stop the constant migratory flows, mainly from Central America.
The Republicans they blamed the president Joe Biden for the state of security on the southern border and have put forward the figures of the Border Patrol (CBP) on the increase to record levels in two decades of the arrival of immigrants.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had announced the end of Title 42 by May 23, at the recommendation of the CDC, which has been advanced with its strategic plan.
“When the Title 42 public health order is lifted, we anticipate that migration levels will increase further as smugglers seek to prey on and profit from vulnerable migrants. We will continue to discount people without legal claims under Title 8, consistent with our laws,” the memo states.
more backgrounds
Congress appropriated $1.4 billion to DHS to manage migration, however, these resources could be depleted with the constant increase in migrants.
The DHS recalls in its document that in the 15 months of the Democratic administration it has had to face “unprecedented levels of migration” from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that he will insist on a vote to stop any suspension of the so-called Title 42 immigration border measure, according to a report from Reuters.
One of the biggest critics of President Biden’s immigration policy, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier Tuesday that state officials are taking “unprecedented steps to combat historic levels of illegal immigrants,” something that , he stressed, it does not concern them but the White House. “It’s time for Biden to do his job: secure our border,” he said in a tweet.
Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, increase in migrants
DHS data indicates that migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba continue to arrive in numbers that exceed those of the five years of 2014-2019, representing 37% of “non-Mexican” encounters from fiscal year 2022 to date, compared to 8% of the referred five-year period.
It also notes that the Border Patrol has seen an increase in encounters with migrants compared to pre-pandemic years, from 1,600 per day to an average of more than 7,800 per day.
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