Thousands of Migrants are crossing into the United States this week ahead of a new regulation that could prevent most crossers from seeking asylum, while others gathered on the Mexican side amid confusion over US policy.
The United States on Wednesday put into effect a rule that means that most immigrants are not eligible for asylum if they first passed through other countries where they did not seek protection or if they did not use legal routes to enter the country.
The new rule is a key part of President Joe Biden’s border control plan, as the Covid-19 restrictions, known as Title 42, will end just before midnight Thursday.
Under the Title 42which has been in place since March 2020, many people who crossed the border were quickly expelled to Mexico without the possibility of applying asylumwhich provoked repeated attempts by some migrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the new rule would mean harsher consequences for migrants who cross illegally and who, if caught, could be deported and barred from qualifying for asylum in the United States for five years. .
“We are making it very clear that our border is not open, that crossing irregularly is against the law and that those who are not eligible for (asylum) aid will be returned quickly,” Mayorkas said earlier at a news conference in Washington.
The migrants they have been congregating in Mexico near various parts of the border, many of them not knowing when or how to cross. Drone images showed large crowds gathered at the border fence from El Paso, Texas, facing neighboring Ciudad Juárez, in Mexican territory.
On a towering wall that divides San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico, hundreds have been jumping in recent days, hoping to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Some have camped out for days under Mylar thermal blankets, surviving on granola bars and water, while waiting for their application to be processed in no man’s land on American soil, between a main wall and a secondary wall.
A group of single women and a family with two young children from Colombia said they left home seven days ago, flew to El Salvador and then traveled by bus through Central America and Mexico.
“We heard that Title 42 was going to end and after that there will be no choice,” said Diana, 30, who declined to give her last name. The woman herself explained that she found out about the policy change through the news and by word of mouth.
More than 10,000 migrants were caught crossing the border illegally each day Monday and Tuesday, according to Brandon Judd, president of a union of border patrol agents. The total exceeds a scenario outlined by a senior US border official in April for the period after Title 42 ends.
Border agents have been authorized to release migrants in border cities if US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and charities do not have the capacity to accept them, Judd added.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Criticism from both sides
Republicans have criticized Biden, a Democrat running for re-election in 2024, for rolling back the hardline policies of former Republican President Donald Trump, the current favorite to be the party’s nominee.
A coalition of 22 Republican state attorneys general separately opposed the measure, saying it is “riddled with exceptions.”
But some Democrats and immigration advocates have said the regulation undermines the ability to claim asylum at US borders, as required by US law and international agreements.
The move contradicts earlier statements Biden made in 2020 on the campaign trail, when he said he thought it was “wrong” that people couldn’t apply for asylum in the United States.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has indicated that it will file a lawsuit against Biden’s policy.
The rule, which takes effect Thursday and expires in two years, will apply to the vast majority of non-Mexican immigrants seeking asylum, as they typically pass through multiple countries en route to the United States.
Biden administration officials said in late April that they are expanding legal pathways for immigrants abroad to provide alternative ways to enter the United States and discourage illegal crossings.
In a call with journalists on Tuesday, US administration officials reported that the Executive planned to open more than 100 migration processing centers in the Western Hemisphere and that it would launch a new online dating platform in the coming days.
They also said they expected Mexico to step up immigration enforcement this week, including in the south of the country.
