Mabel, a Colombian returned from the United States (USA
) with the so-called Title 42
recounted in Meridiano Blu the distressing moments and mistreatment she believed she had suffered from the authorities of the North American country at the time of return to Colombia.
“They take pictures of us, fingerprint and due process. They tell us we’re going to an animal shelter, but that’s a prison. We slept on a mat and the blankets were clear plastic. There they gave us clothes for bathing and.” There they are taken off again. In my case 15 days without bathing, bad words. They put us on the plane with thousands of lies, I saw there was a family that was treated very ugly,” he said.
Mabel is among the group of 209 Colombians, 107 adults and 102 children and adolescents who were returned to Colombia, just in time for El Dorado Airport, under the so-called Title 42, which departs at midnight this Thursday. She denounced the inadequate humanitarian treatment and assured that her hands and feet were bound.
According to him “The officers in green make the decision on who fits and who doesn’t, and,” he added, “they just look at single women who are pretty and that’s it.” He assures that the authorities in the United States “are exhibiting some kind of horrible behavior”.
This Colombian claims she tried to cross the border into the US because two of her four children, aged 15, 12, 7 and 4, were about to be recruited from illegal armed groups: “I said it’s already getting out of hand, I’d rather go away and ask for refuge. I arrived in Mexico City, from there I took a bus to Juárez, you know they got hurt crossing, but we.” We turned ourselves in to the authorities, but according to them, we do drugs and they treat us like them Worst,” said this woman, who said she had to collect “about 15 to 16 million” for the trip.
“We didn’t get separated, they all slept with me, but it was very awful because they said they wanted to eat and go home.” Food that not even a person eats on the street,” he said of his children’s experience during the 15 days he spent in the hands of authorities in the United States.
“I would like President Petro to also please put a strong hand and see what is happening.”, because many of us are afraid to denounce, because after all it’s America, the United States. So that the President or person in charge recognizes and visits these locations,” Mabel concluded.
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a health regulation issued during the Trump administration that allows migrants to be expelled at the border. Under the Republican administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this ordinance shortly after the national emergency was declared COVID-19.
Thus, under the pretext of the pandemic, the Title 42 It allowed restricting migrant entry through the southern border and deporting people of certain nationalities to Mexico after crossing the border irregularly without the possibility of seeking asylum.
According to the organization International Rescue Committee, the USA has carried out more than 2.5 million deportations under this regulation during this period.
The use of Title 42 has been widely criticized by human rights organizations. ensuring that it violates international law as it prohibits people in need of protection from seeking asylum in the US.
In turn, it has been the subject of several lawsuits, demanding both repossession and retention. However, the end of Title 42 coincides with the lifting of the national emergency due to the pandemic Thursday at 11:59 p.m. local time.
What happens at the border?
With the abolition of Title 42, it was expected that the normal rules for examining asylum cases would apply again, which must be requested by law on US soil. However, the Biden government has decided to introduce a new rule restricting access to asylum for people who wish to enter the United States by land.
The regulation, which was published in the Federal Register this Wednesday, is considered “unsuitable” to seek asylum from migrants crossing the border irregularly who did not seek protection in a third country during their journey to the United States.
The main legal avenue available to people arriving at the border to seek asylum in the US will be the CBP One mobile application, which will allow immigrants to schedule appointments with authorities to present their cases.
The North American country will offer a lot 1,000 daily appointments to apply for asylum in this procedure, A number that officials say could increase “depending on the capacity” of Migration Service staff.
Those who do not use this procedure and decide to cross the border irregularly will be declared ineligible to seek asylum in the United States unless they have previously been denied entry in a third country or demonstrate that they have encountered technical or safety-related obstacles. Language to access the application.
To implement these measures, the Biden executive branch has decided to increase the number of immigration officers to more than 24,000 and deploy 1,500 soldiers at the border.
In return, the USA has increased the number of deportation flights to countries in the region and has also reached an agreement with Mexico so that the neighboring country will accept them Up to 30,000 migrants are deported from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba every month.