Border police chief Raul Ortiz said 1,500 Cubans were arrested on Monday, more than double the daily average in February.
Around 7,100 migrants are arrested every day after crossing the border United States US and Mexico, US officials said on Tuesday, saying they are preparing for more hikes as the Biden administration nears a decision on whether to end asylum restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Border police chief Raul Ortiz said 1,500 Cubans were arrested on Monday, more than double the daily average in February.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said US authorities encountered migrants an average of 7,101 times a day in the week through Monday, compared to a daily average of about 6,800 encounters in February between people crossing illegally and those crossing report to official bodies crossings.
The sharp increase, if sustained, could exceed migration levels seen in the past year, 2019 and other periods of heightened activity.
“This is a bipartisan issue, you have to get both parties on board,” Ortiz said at the Border Security Expo, an industry conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The lifting of asylum restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic “is likely to result in a significant increase” in migrant arrivals at the United States’ southern border, DHS wrote in a 16-page document outlining the actions it is taking more Personnel and other measures to cope with larger numbers of people. The department noted that the surge in arrivals also reflects the long-term causes driving migration to the United States, such as earthquakes, other natural disasters, and economic decline leading to food and housing shortages.
“In recent years, irregular migration along the Southwest border has reached unprecedented levels,” the DHS noted. “In addition to the increase in migration, (the department) notes a pronounced demographic and national change of non-citizens being held at the land border, affecting their processes”.
DHS officials said they have plans for three scenarios: for the current level of illegal border crossings for about 12,000 arrests, and for about 18,000 arrests, an impressive figure but officials say is only for preparedness and not projection as such .
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The department said it has established a Southwest Border Coordination Center to respond to significant surges and that MaryAnn Tierney, regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will serve as deputy director, with a Border Patrol agent serving as deputy.
The US government is being challenged by the arrival of migrants from countries that typically did not send as many people to the United States, such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia.
Since March 2020, the United States has used a public health order issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the basis for deporting migrants more than 1.7 million times without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to make a decision this week on whether to extend Title 42, named after a 1944 public health law.
Some migrants from pCountries like Cuba continue to be released into US territory to seek asylum because cost and diplomatic issues prevent the United States from sending them home.
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COVID-19 rates have fallen among migrants crossing the border, raising further questions about the scientific basis for exiting Title 42. Although there is no overall rate for migrants, the results of the tests available in several of the main corridors are for the Illegal border crossing indicates that it is well below the level that has caused concern among US authorities.
In California, 54 out of 2,877 migrants tested positive for the virus in the first two weeks of March, according to the state Department of Social Services. That’s a rate of just 1.9%, compared to the peak of 28.2% registered on Jan. 8.
In Pima County, Arizona, which includes Tucson, the seven-day positivity rate among migrants did not exceed 1.3% in early March. The infection rate among 5,300 migrants tested at the Border Regional Health Center near Yuma, Arizona last month was 0.1%.
McAllen, Texas — the largest city in the busiest illegal border corridor — has a higher rate among migrants: 11.3% in the week ended March 16, but it was consistently lower than the general population.
Source: martinoticias.com