Washington, May 5 (EFE).- The Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Alejandro Mayorkas, warned this Friday from the border that there will be “consequences” for people who arrive in the country irregularly when the new immigration policy of the country from next week.
Mayorkas visited the border with Mexico to supervise the preparations for the lifting on May 11 of Title 42, a health policy used since 2020 to expel irregular migrants under the pretext of the covid-19 pandemic.
“The border is not open, has not been open, and will not be open after May 11,” Mayorkas said in an appearance before the press in Brownsville (Texas), bordering the Mexican city of Matamoros (Tamaulipas).
The person in charge of immigration policy recalled that Title 8 will be applied, a policy that allows “expelling people very quickly”, and asked migrants not to trust the “disinformation” of human traffickers who promise them help to cross the border in exchange for money.
Mayorkas invited migrants to seek to reach the country through legal channels and gave as an example the humanitarian permits that are given to Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who have sponsors in the United States.
“We are opening legal channels, but at the same time there will be consequences for those individuals who arrive at the southern border irregularly,” the secretary warned.
The United States will put an end to the health emergency due to covid-19 on May 11, which will imply the lifting of Title 42, used since the mandate of Donald Trump (2017-2021) for the hot returns of migrants at the border with the excuse of the pandemic.
The Government of Joe Biden has predicted an increase in the arrivals of migrants from different countries in the region to the border with Mexico and has deployed 1,500 soldiers in the area to support immigration tasks.
The United States announced last week that all those migrants who cross the border and cannot prove that they are victims of persecution or torture in their countries will be expelled under Title 8 and can be punished with a 5-year ban on entering US territory.
Since last January, Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians can apply online for humanitarian permits if they have a sponsor in the United States, but if they cross the border without permission they are automatically deported to Mexico.
Thanks to this program, the arrival of people of these 4 nationalities has been reduced by 95%, Mayorkas said.
Washington also announced the creation of two centers, one in Colombia and the other in Guatemala, to process migrant asylum applications, some of which will be received by Canada and Spain.
An official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained this Friday to the press that in recent months the number of expulsion flights has increased and that they will continue under Title 8.
Every day, there are flights to Central and South America, while the journeys are weekly to the Caribbean. They are “frequent” to Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, said a person in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).
