US government expects the number of migrants from Latin America to continue to rise

Icon: enlarge

Migrants from Honduras after crossing the Rio Grande towards Texas

Photo: ADREES LATIF / REUTERS

The US government is preparing for a further significant increase in the number of migrants, especially from Central America, on the border between the United States and Mexico.

The numbers could exceed those of the past 20 years, said US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

The situation on the southern border is "difficult".

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he had no plans to visit the border region yet.

The Republicans accuse the Democratic President of having triggered a crisis on the US's southern border with his more liberal migration policy.

Biden's migration policy has also been criticized from other quarters, as thousands of minors who are on the run without their parents are held in camps or homes while their asylum applications are being examined.

According to CNN, 3700 children are currently in the custody of the authorities.

And it is apparently taking longer and longer to move them to another location.

Mayorkas raised serious allegations against the previous government of Republican President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

"The previous government completely dismantled the asylum system," he said.

Mayorkas admitted that the transfer of unaccompanied minors from border police facilities to those of the Ministry of Health does not always succeed within the legally prescribed time frame of 72 hours.

The capacity of the health authorities has been exceeded.

He announced measures to improve the situation for children.

The border protection agency CBP announced last Wednesday that its employees had arrested 100,441 people trying to cross the southern border in February - 28 percent more than in the previous month and almost three times as many as in February 2020. 72,113 migrants had been sent back.

According to CBP, the number of unaccompanied minors rose from 3,490 in February 2020 to 9,457 last month.

Icon: The mirror

svs / dpa