New measures against illegal immigration, trip to the border with Mexico and meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday After two years in which Joe Biden put aside the migration issue and drew criticism from his opponents, the American president now seems to be closing have taken up the subject.
The year 2023 begins for Joe Biden with a sensitive issue: immigration. For the first time since he took office two years ago, on Sunday January 8, the US President moved to the border with Mexico in the Texan city of El Paso, one of the main gateways for migrants into the United States.
Greeted by the state’s governor, the very conservative Greg Abbott, he met border police there, visited a reception center for migrants before walking to the giant bridge that connects the city to its Mexican twin, Juarez. That same evening he flew to Mexico City to attend a summit meeting with his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Here, too, the issue of migration had to be at the center of the discussions.
Before this unprecedented trip, the White House had already announced new measures on the subject on Thursday. Up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — among the major nationalities crossing the Mexican border daily — will be allowed into the United States each month. The latter, however, must meet several conditions: They must arrive by plane “so as not to put additional strain on border patrol officers on the ground,” according to the executive, and be financially supported by a person already living in the United States.
These thousands of authorized migrants can stay in the United States for two years and get a work permit. On the other hand, those who cross the border illegally are turned back immediately and are banned from entering the country for five years.
At the same time, Washington wants to launch a mobile application on which migrants must register in order to have a chance to legally cross the border. One way, according to Washington, to combat illegal smuggling networks more effectively. “Don’t come to the limit” without first starting a legal process, was the summary of Joe Biden.
A topic that has been missing for two years
“So many trips and announcements that show that Joe Biden wants to revisit this burning issue,” analyzes Jean-Éric Branaa, specialist in the United States and lecturer at the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas.
Upon his arrival at the White House, the Democratic President announced that he wanted to implement far-reaching immigration reform. “America is safer, stronger and more prosperous with a healthy and humane migration system that welcomes migrants and enables them to contribute to the progress of our country,” he argued. He had also set the tone from the day of his inauguration, Jan. 20, 2021, by suspending construction of the wall on the Mexican border and lifting the ban on nationals of predominantly Muslim countries entering American soil — two key actions by his predecessor Donald Trump.
But apart from a decree attacking the separation of families at the border, the president has since been very quiet on the issue, mostly delegating it to his vice president, Kamala Harris. “With good reason, it is certainly one of the most dangerous questions for the president: it is heavily exploited by his opponents from the Republican Party and is very sensitive to public opinion,” explains the expert. “And in a context marked by the economic crisis, runaway inflation and the Covid-19 crisis, he will have preferred to focus on domestic issues.”
The issue is all the more sensitive because since his election, migrants have never been so numerous to try their luck in the United States. About 2.15 million illegal migrants were arrested at the Mexican border in 2022, according to Border Police statistics released in September, compared to 1.7 million in 2021. And 27% of those arrests were for migrants who had previously attempted to cross the border several times Border to cross the last twelve months. In November alone, 230,000 arrests were registered.
“Given that observation, the migration crisis was one of the Republicans’ big levers in the midterm election campaign. They regularly blamed the Democratic camp for the situation. We remember those elected officials who sent convoys of thousands of migrants in the cities of the Democratic Party last spring…” says Olivier Richomme, specialist in the United States and professor at the University of Lyon II.
>> Also read. USA: Republican states send migrant buses to democratic cities
A move toward Republican ‘to avoid deadlock’
This time, however, when Joe Biden broke his silence on January 5, he drew the wrath of his own camp and immigrant defense associations. The main reason: Contrary to your expectations, the American President seems to be preserving the “Title 42” device. This decree, issued by Donald Trump at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, allows migrants to be pushed back to the border in the name of the risk of spread – an emergency measure that does not provide for any legal recourse.
“For many of us who work in the immigration industry, we were hoping that the Biden administration would sign ‘Title 42’ and restore Asylum. It’s a disappointment,” Alex Miller, campaign manager for the Immigration Council’s campaign, told The Guardian.
“These measures limit access to asylum to people who are of the right nationalities, who have the resources and the right support…” he adds. “And the mandatory use of a mobile application risks making the process even more difficult for all migrants who don’t have access to digital tools or who don’t speak English or Spanish.”
“It’s racist and classist,” denounces United We Dream, an association supported by young migrants. “This retention of ‘Title 42’ will hurt the very people the government claims it wants to protect.”
“We must not forget that since the beginning of his presidency, Joe Biden has been systematically obstructed by Congress on all immigration issues,” added Jean-Éric Branaa. “Admittedly, 30,000 people a month is small compared to the number that shows up at the border every day, but it’s a step in the right direction. Joe Biden is playing the tightrope act with these half-hearted measures.” He’s making a move toward Republicans, hoping to bypass the deadlock.”
“Furthermore, these announcements come at a time when ‘Title 42’ is at the center of a legal battle: the Supreme Court decided at the end of December to stay its decision on whether or not to uphold it,” Olivier Richomme continues. “However, Republicans continue to threaten that a sudden liftoff of this device would result in a massive influx at the borders.” Originally, “Title 42” was scheduled to be suspended on December 21. The date was postponed against appeals from around twenty conservative states.
“Donald Trump’s only policy was to close the borders to migration. Joe Biden, on the other hand, admits there is a humanitarian crisis. But he is playing with a subtle position that wants to say: ‘We know this crisis exists and we will handle it as sensibly as possible,’ summarizes the specialist.
The “Dreamers” in the crosshairs
According to Jean-Éric Braana, Joe Biden hopes to shake Republicans in his favor on another migration act, that of the “Dreamers,” those hundreds of thousands of migrant children who are often born in the United States to parents in an irregular situation. “Since the Obama administration, these minors, who often only know the United States and no longer have relatives in their country of origin, have enjoyed a temporary status that allows them to study and work. Joe Biden promised them permanent status and paved the way for citizenship,” he explains. “By agreeing to toughen the tone on illegal immigration, I’m sure he’s hoping to give himself a little more room to maneuver on the issue and pass at least one flagship law in the second half of his tenure.”
Finally, Joe Biden has another project to tackle on Monday in Mexico: strengthening cooperation with his neighbors on this migration issue. If Mexico City has already agreed to take in 30,000 people a month in the opposite direction who are being expelled from the United States for being in an irregular condition, the task might still be difficult. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador decided to avoid the last Summit of the Americas organized in Los Angeles last June, which showed precisely this goal of harmonizing the fight against illegal immigration between the United States and Latin America. Washington had, with good reason, refused to extend an invitation to three other important countries on this issue: Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.