Matamoros (Mexico), May 11 (EFE) Rio Grande and set up 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 had installed a security concertina, that is, coiled razor wire, to prevent irregular crossings on the banks of the Rio Grande, or Rio Grande in the US, 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 about 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,” a Venezuelan who preferred to remain anonymous told EFE.
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.
“THEY ARE INHUMAN”
The tension at the border grows before the end this Thursday night of Title 42, a measure adopted by Donald Trump (2017-2021) and later continued by President Joe Biden to expel migrants on the grounds of the covid-19 pandemic. 19, an emergency declaration that is also about to end in the US.
With the new obstacle extended and the federal forces, there were migrants who did not cross that barrier and returned to Matamoros along the Rio Grande, defying danger in an area where at least one native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, has already drowned.
“They are inhumane, they told us that you cannot (cross) because it is already closed,” Venezuelan Karen Méndez, who had to return to Mexico, told EFE.
Desperate migrants began to look for places where there was no security, or agents to scare them away because their only objective was to cross into the United States to request their asylum process in that country.
“We have no information about the changes. We do fear an arrest, but we have to risk it,” a Venezuelan who said his name is Alejandro argued to EFE.
Most of the foreigners who entered the river had arrived in the last 24 hours looking for an alternative to be received by the Biden government, without taking into account the “CBP One” application that was enabled to register them.
CRUCIAL HOURS
As time passes and the end of Title 42 approaches, the massive crossing does not stop at the natural border between both nations.
“Not staying here, we are going forward, it is there, backwards or to gain momentum. We come from hell, we come from the jungle, we go with God and we go forward,” Darwin Mercado told EFE.
At a critical moment, the US military yelled at the INM agents why they were letting the migrants through, while the Mexicans blamed them for temporarily removing the sharp wire fence to let groups of migrants through.
