Saturday May 13, 2023 | 4:00 p.m.
At its border with Mexico, the United States managed to relatively calmly turn the page on immigration restrictions imposed during the pandemic, as migrants adjust to tough new rules aimed at discouraging illegal crossings and wait for the promise to be fulfilled. of new legal routes of entry into the country.
A full day after the regulations known as Title 42 were removed, migrants and government officials were still assessing the effects of new regulations from the Joe Biden administration in hopes of stabilizing the border region and undermining smugglers who cash in on migrants. migrants to get there. Now, the United States basically prohibits immigrants from applying for asylum in the country if they did not first apply online or first seek protection in the countries through which they traveled.
Families allowed to enter as their immigration cases progress will be subject to curfews and GPS monitoring. And as of now, those who have already been removed from the United States face the possibility of being barred from entering the country for up to five years, as well as facing possible criminal charges.
On the other side of the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, many migrants stared at their cell phones in the hope of landing a coveted appointment to enter the United States. The registration app changed this week, and now offers appointments for the entry of migrants through land crossings. Many migrants in northern Mexico were resigned to waiting for an appointment rather than approaching the border without authorization.
“I hope it’s a little better and that appointments get a little faster,” said Yeremy Depablos, a 21-year-old Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in the Mexican city for a month. For fear of being deported, she Depablos did not want to cross without authorization. “You have to do it the legal way.”
The US Department of Homeland Security said there had been no substantial increase in immigrants, but in southern Mexico on Friday, migrants — including children — continued to flock to the railroad tracks in Huehuetoca, desperate to board trains. cargo heading to the United States.
The legal channels that the US government is now promoting consist of a program that allows the entry of up to 30,000 people per month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela as long as they submit their application online, have a financial sponsor and enter via aerial.
A hundred processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply for permission to enter the United States, Spain or Canada. About 1,000 people can enter daily through land crossings from Mexico, as long as they get an appointment through the app.
If it works, the system could fundamentally alter the way migrants arrive in the United States. But Biden, who is running for re-election, is coming under fire from both immigrant advocates — who say the president is abandoning more humane methods — and from Republicans, who say he is taking a soft stance on security in border. Two court challenges are already looming over the new asylum restrictions.
Title 42 has been in effect since March 2020 and allowed border agents to quickly return asylum seekers across the border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, after the United States declared the end of the national emergency, such restrictions had to end.
Although Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it did not carry legal consequences with removal, which encouraged repeated entry attempts. That changed under the new rules. In El Paso on Friday, a few dozen migrants stood outside Sacred Heart Church and the shelter where nearly 2,000 migrants camped just Tuesday.
The Rev. Daniel Mora said most migrants heeded fliers distributed this week by US immigration authorities offering a “last chance” to submit to prosecution and left. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said 1,800 migrants turned themselves in to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Thursday.
Melissa López, executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, said many migrants have been willing to follow the legal path created by the US government, but there were also fears of deportation and possible criminal penalties for those who cross. the border without legal authorization.
