The controversial Title 42the norm that in USA allowed the expulsion of migrants for public health reasons, came to an end this Thursday at 9:59 p.m. local time in El Paso (Texas), where state and federal authorities activated their respective protocols in the face of a greater flow of people in the border with Mexico.
Tax during the administration of the former president donald trump (2017-2021), praised by Republicans, criticized by human rights activists and maintained by Joe Biden, his uprising has sparked rumors and a new political battle between progressives and conservatives.
In practice used almost 2.8 million times to expel migrants by preventing them from seeking asylum.
Through a video posted on social networks and directed at those who try to cross illegally, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkasexpressed that “the borders are not open”.
“Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a legal route will be considered ineligible to request asylum. We are prepared to humanely prosecute and expel people who do not have a legal basis to remain in the US,” Mayorkas said.
He also warned about the measures that will come into force with the new immigration policy, a revision of Title 8 that was in force before the pandemic, such as the five-year ban on seeking asylum in the United States if trying to re-enter the countryin addition to potential criminal consequences.
Some people tried to cross until the last hours of the day, with more or less luck.
Some 1,300 migrantsincluding families with small children, crossed at the height of Juarez Cityin Mexico, but the US border patrol intercepted them, verified a journalist from the AFP.
at the height of matamorosanother journalist from the AFP he saw American heavy machinery leveling the ground to install barbed-wire fences, forcing people to seek clear sections. A border patrol officer acknowledged, hours before midnight, that they were no longer letting anyone through.
As of this Friday, migrants who arrive at the border will be at the mercy of the Title 8which was already being applied.
At midnight the rule of presumption of “ineligibility” for asylum which makes it subject to two conditions: having followed the “legal channels” or having requested it in a transit country and having been denied.
To follow a “legal route” the migrant can take advantage of family reunification programs to the humanitarian permits for quotas for Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans, or process their requests before arriving at the border through the mobile application CBP One.
“It is something unusual that an application practically decides our life and our future“, She complained Jeremy dePablos, a 21-year-old Venezuelan who has been camping for weeks in Ciudad Juárez, in Mexico. The most difficult thing is facial recognition because “it’s a bingo, he recognizes who he wants.”
Right on the border line between Tijuana and San Diego, Steven Llumitaxia 21-year-old Ecuadorian, maintains “a lot of faith” that the immigration authorities will let him through with his wife and two-year-old son.
“They say that babies have more priority”, he declared to the AFP in Tijuana, where he was transferred by “coyoteros” who charged him $3,000 for taking “the jump” from the southern border with Guatemala.
With few exceptions, migrants will be expelled to their countries of origin and in the case of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans to Mexico.
Among the migrants who manage to enter, some sleep on the street or in crowded shelters and others contact friends or acquaintances to travel to the cities where they are waiting for them.
In brownsvillean American border town, nerves are on the surface.
the venezuelan Patricia Vargas she cries sitting on the floor. She got across, but her family didn’t.
“They returned my son to Monterrey. They just notified me. We were five in total and only I could pass“, the Mint. “You can’t pass anymore, since I entered you can’t pass. Now it’s time to wait for the application to work for you.
The US Army will support surveillance work with 1,500 soldiers at the border, Texas National Guard reinforcements and the city of El Paso enabled 4,500 beds to receive refugees who have passed the rigorous selection of the police and has fully collaborated with security agencies to evacuate a migrant camp that was set up a few days ago near a church in the center of the city.
(With information from AFP, EFE and Europa Press)
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