and a predictable increase in migrants would further expose the deep divisions in this country founded on promises of safety and refuge, but where concern for illegal immigration makes his welcome uncertain.
Many of those trying to escape the economic and political crises in their countries have already crossed the border. Frustrated by the lack of legal options, some slipped across the 3,100 kilometers that separate the world’s richest country from its southern neighbor.
Texas cities of El Paso, Brownsville and Laredo They have declared a state of emergency and are dealing as best they can with hundreds of people, most of them Latin America, and others from China, Russia and Türkiye.
In El Paso, some migrants sleep on the streets, cover themselves with sheets from the sun or rest on cardboard. Dirty children beg for alms.
The city’s mayor, Oscar Leeser, warned that his officers are preparing for the arrival of many more on Friday, after a recent visit to the neighboring Mexican town of Ciudad Juárez.
“In the street we calculated (that there were) between 8,000 and 10,000 people,” he said. “There’s a caravan… that will probably be here around May 11, so I’d say the actual number we’ll be dealing with will be somewhere between 12 and 15,000.”
– Qualification 42 –
He qualification 42 expires Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Washington (03:59 GMT).
This rule, activated under former Republican President donald trumpwith the supposed objective of prevent the entry into the country of people with covid-19, It served in practice to quickly expel migrants, without having to accept their asylum applications.
With its expiration, migrants will again be able to submit asylum applications processed through the courts, a process that can take years.
The Democratic President’s Administration Joe Biden is under strong pressure from the Republican Party, which calls for a controlled border. Some members of this conservative party forecast the arrival of a million people at the border in the next three months.
And with 18 months to go before the presidential election, where migration is often a contentious issue, Biden hopes new rules will help stem the flow at the border, where he has sent an additional 1,500 troops for administrative tasks such as data entry.
Once the sanitary norm is lifted, the use of the Qualification 8, which makes it possible to request asylum as long as the person can convince that they will be persecuted or tortured if they return to their country, but also authorizes the accelerated deportation of others and punishes them with a five-year ban on entry once expelled.
The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, lamented Monday that the government “rolls out the welcome mat for people from all over the world” and ordered the dispatch of hundreds of Texan soldiers to the border “to help intercept and repel” migrants. trying to enter Texas.
– Mobile app –
In an attempt to prevent mass arrivals at the border, the Biden administration created new rules that encourage migrants to make an appointment for their asylum applications from a mobile application.
But those in Ciudad Juárez complain that the CBP One app doesn’t work well.
Frustrated, some have decided to turn themselves in to the US border patrol at one of the crossings.
“They come and tell us that they are going to receive us, but they never come back,” complained Marjorie, a Venezuelan mother of two children, ages 2 and 5. “They tell us to stay calm, to wait here, but they never come back. We do not know why”.
In addition to this application for several months, a limited number of Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans can request asylum, but only 30,000 per month and under conditions. Much less than those seeking to flee their countries in crisis.
– Outdated laws –
In south Brownsville, a makeshift processing center has been set up on a baseball field.
Hundreds of people, many Venezuelans, wander the streets in a tense atmosphere after the death of eight migrants hit by a van at a bus stop on Sunday. The driver, George Alvarez, has been charged with manslaughter.
At El Paso, the traditionally busiest border crossing, authorities are turning empty schools into shelters and beefing up transportation to help migrants get where they want to go to meet family or friends, or to look for work.
For the mayor they are temporary solutions.
“Federal immigration laws don’t work,” Leeser says. “There is no end. There is no end to this and we really have to figure out where we’re going.”
