Havana-. Troubles are beating US President Joe Biden, and immigration is one of them, his country’s media warns, pointing out that a new southern border crisis would come at the worst possible moment for him and his fellow Democrats .
The Wall Street Journal reported that the month of March will end with the highest number of arrests of irregular migrants at the dividing line with Mexico “in at least 22 years.”
According to the newspaper report, the Border Patrol, citing preliminary data from the Biden administration, “made about 7,000 arrests a day in March”.
Illegal border crossings into the region rose to their highest level in decades last summer, with more than 200,000 arrests by border police in July and August.
Since then, there has been a slight decline whose downtrend is reversing, The Hill said.
Recently, the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that it arrested 164,973 irregular migrants in February alone, up 7 percent from the month of January and 73 percent more than the second month from a year earlier.
“February also saw a slight increase in encounters along the southwestern border, with people from Mexico and the Northern Triangle predominating and the majority of non-citizens being removed under Title 42,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said. in an opinion.
To complicate the scenario for Biden, the controversial Donald Trump-era measure known as Title 42 to bar migrants from entering the country on public health grounds (protected by the public health emergency created by the Covid-19 pandemic) is imminent the end .
According to an April 1 announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on May 23 the Biden administration will end border restrictions imposed by Trump during the pandemic that have torpedoed the entry of migrants into the United States.
With the suspension of Title 42, migrants could be detained or deported if they do not apply for asylum, or they would be released on US territory while their proceedings to regularize their situation take place.
The current administration’s enforcement of the regulations has drawn criticism from left-wing sectors, pro-immigration and even mainstream members of the Democratic Party not known for breaking with the White House, such as Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (New York) .
With that in mind, the executive villa understands that attempts to cross the United States-Mexico border will ramp up following the revocation of that policy, which was said to have been used as a public health measure early in the pandemic, The Hill .
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told reporters at a news conference that the administration would “transfer” responsibility for ending the policy to the CDC. Meanwhile, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus ramped up pressure on Biden to finalize his predecessor’s controversial program.
The 38 members of the faction sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Health and Social Care, Xavier Becerra; Minister of National Security Alejandro Mayorkas and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.
In it, they called for the suspension of the order in force since March 2020, which the Biden administration defended in court.
“Trump’s Title 42 must end now,” “Stop using the pandemic as an excuse to keep it,” Congressmen said.
To date, the strategy implemented by Customs and Border Protection officials is regularly reviewed by the CDC to justify its use during Covid-19.
In fiscal year 2021 alone, more than one million 500,000 migrants were affected by this policy.
Among other things, Congressmen are asking the authorities to explain how they determine that a family or individual poses a health risk to the country and how to ensure the correct care of children.
“For more than two years, asylum seekers have been illegally expelled from the United States without due process,” said Congressman Joaquín Castro (Texas), quoted by the Hispanic newspaper La Opinion.
The Democratic representative felt that the current use of Title 42 was “an unwarranted continuation of the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies.”
Civic organizations backed by senators, including Majority Leader Schumer, also urged Biden to overturn the measure.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials estimate they are preparing to take in up to 18,000 undocumented immigrants daily after the measure is lifted.
However, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated, “Once the Title 42 order is no longer in effect, DHS will process individuals found at the border under Title 8, which is used to bring individuals into deportation proceedings.”
“Let me be clear: those who cannot find legal grounds to remain in the United States will be expelled,” he said. In other words: the deportations will continue.
Undoubtedly, the immigration issue is the talking point of the red power (the color that identifies the Republican Party) and they see it as President number 46’s Achilles’ heel.
With just under seven months to go before the general election, the Republican opposition is trying to exploit “the horrors of Joe Biden’s open border crisis.”
Not far from taking a stand against immigrants, Trump used a rally in Michigan to testify, without any support whatsoever, that between 10 and 12 million will soon be “invading” the United States when his administration’s title is gone is applicable.
As pundits and the press have warned, the worst thing that could happen to Biden now is adding another to the problems he already has at home.
For example, the president is grappling with the worst inflation in decades while his agenda in Congress continues to falter, largely due to internal divisions within Democrats themselves, which have not allowed him to pass his Build Back Better bill. , to adopt its ambitious social and social commitment climate spending plan.
Both of Biden’s immediate predecessors in the White House suffered negative poll numbers on the eve of their first midterm elections, and both saw their party lose control of the House of Representatives.
In November 2010, Barack Obama’s approval rating plummeted as Republicans used a powerful red wave fueled by the Tea Party to overturn that chamber.
With these experiences, the Democrats fear what is to come in November, when the new balance of power will be decided on Capitol Hill.
Biden’s poor grades in the polls remain in place for now.