The United States warned Thursday that its border with Mexico was not “fully open” before 11:59 p.m. lifted a measure that had blocked access to its territory since the pandemic began, a change that has left many migrants confused and could lead to a “chaotic” situation, according to the authorities.
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Will there be an influx? In the face of Republicans overwhelming them and demanding the retention of this measure, “Title 42”, the administration of Democrat Joe Biden recalls in particular that new restrictions on the right to asylum have been passed.
“I want to be very clear: our border is not wide open. “People who cross our border illegally and without residency will be deported immediately (…),” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said at a White House news briefing.
“However, we are aware of the challenges we are likely to face in the coming days and weeks, and we stand ready to respond,” he added, noting that “certainly a large number of arrivals” observed sectors”.
President Biden himself recently claimed that the situation will be “chaotic for a while.”
In preparation, the state had mobilized “more than 24,000 agents and law enforcement officers” at the border and 4,000 soldiers.
Migrants sporadically crossed the border in groups of 20 migrants on Thursday in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, according to an AFP journalist on the ground, according to a local AFP journalist.
“Title 42” is due to be lifted at 11:59 p.m. Washington time, but some migrants are rushing to cross the border to seek asylum about 3,000 miles before that deadline, fearing the rule change could prevent them from doing so . for five years.
“Title 42,” designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, gave American authorities the ability to immediately turn back all migrants entering the country, including asylum seekers. In three years it was used 2.8 million times.
New asylum restrictions passed by the US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security go into effect Thursday evening.
Asylum seekers, with the exception of unaccompanied minors, must now have made an appointment in front of the border crossing point following a telephone request from border guards or have been denied access to asylum in one of the countries transited on their migration journey.
Otherwise, their application will be considered unlawful and they will face an accelerated deportation procedure that will ban them from entering American soil for five years.
Amid changing migration patterns, rumors being spread by smugglers and a complex online process, the migrants massing in northern Mexico are witnessing a conundrum.
The “CBP One” application, designed to centralize asylum applications in the United States, is at the heart of migrants’ frustration at the border, where phones, Wi-Fi and electricity are luxuries.
Because of the frequent errors, “it’s a nightmare, a real ordeal.” “This app drains us emotionally and psychologically,” says Juan Pavon, a trader who fled Venezuela with his family, while his 14-year-old daughter Ana Paola bitterly cries: An app update wiped all her data.
The migrants come mainly from Latin America, but also from China, Russia and Turkey.
Luis Rodriguez, 24, from Venezuela met in downtown El Paso and says he doesn’t have enough money to pay for transportation to Washington, where he wants to meet friends.
“I go to the barber to see if they let me work” to collect the money, he says.
The Democratic executive is keen to maintain a balanced policy on the burning issue of immigration, while Republicans have accused Joe Biden, the new 2024 nominee, of turning the border into a “sieve.”
For former Republican President Donald Trump, “Joe Biden has officially abolished what remains of America’s borders.”
To encourage legal channels of immigration, Washington has planned to eventually open a hundred centers abroad to study the files on the spot. The first are planned in Colombia and Guatemala.