WASHINGTON — The United States confirmed this Friday that it has not seen a significant increase in migrant crossings across the border with Mexico in the first hours since the lifting of Title 42, the hot eviction policy applied under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, undersecretary for border policy and immigration at the Ministry of Homeland Security, Blas Núñez-Neto, admitted at a press conference that it was still too early to provide official figures and assured that the authorities remain vigilant to any events unfolding the territory occur border.
“We can confirm that we did not see any significant increase in migration this morning,” the official said, but said arrests remained “high” in the region.
After the public health emergency ended last midnight, the United States stopped using Title 42, which allowed deportations of undocumented migrants without the possibility of applying for asylum because of the pandemic, but introduced other restrictions at the border and began deportations via a other ordinance known as Title 8.
Núñez-Neto warned that from now on, anyone who crosses the border without regular immigration status “is not eligible for asylum,” will be quickly expelled from the country, and may be barred from entering the United States for five years.
At least 24,000 border patrol agents are patrolling the area, in addition to the 1,500 troops the Pentagon will gradually deploy over the next few days.
The official explained that with the public health emergency lifted, authorities would no longer be required to test all migrants for COVID-19, so arrests would be made “much faster”.
Núñez-Neto again urged migrants to seek legal avenues to enter the United States and to “ignore the lies” of traffickers who “put their lives at risk” by promising them help crossing the border.
Nancy Muro is an activist and volunteer at the makeshift border camp.
The migration official assured that the number of appointments available to apply for asylum online had increased to 1,000 per day and requested the use of this procedure.
He also recalled that Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians can apply online for humanitarian entry permits to the United States if they have a sponsor in that country.
People of these nationalities who cross the border without permission are automatically deported to Mexico and not to their home country.
“We will continue to carefully monitor the situation on the ground, including arrests and space in our detention centers,” he said.
For his part, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in another press conference that the flow of migrants had “decreased” in recent hours and there had been “no confrontations or violent situations at the border”. “
In key border cities, Mexican authorities are registering 10,000 migrants in Ciudad Juárez, 5,500 in Matamoros and 500 in Tijuana intending to cross to the United States.