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Asylum-seeking migrants from Central America who were airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / Reuters
Those in charge of President Joe Biden to try to stop the arrival of migrants at the border, Juan González and Ricardo Zúñiga, recognized that "at this time" the United States does not have a border "capable of processing" the arrival of more migrants and admitted that Article 42, a law linked to the pandemic that allows the immediate deportation of migrants without any formalities, continues to be used.
"Due to the pandemic and the lack of infrastructure and resources at the border, we are using Title 42. Trump dismantled our capacity," they said this Friday during a telephone interview in Spanish with a group of media from Mexico and Central America.
Juan González, Special Security Assistant for the Western Hemisphere, and Ricardo Zúñiga, designated for Central America, will report to Vice President Kamala Harris for border issues.
Both are in charge of launching a strategy that has promised to legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 4,000 million dollars in aid for Central America and put an end to Trump's aggressive measures to restrict humanitarian asylum.
However, his first months in power have coincided with a spike in the arrival of migrants - usually during the months of February and March - that has overwhelmed the new administration and has provided Republicans with enough ammunition to wave the flag again. of the wall and recall the crisis of unaccompanied minors that shook the border in 2016. Last month, the US authorities counted more than 100,000 illegal crossings, almost 3,500 people a day, the highest number since 2019. At the same time, Texas shelters are overflowing and 16,000 minors are in the custody of the US Government.
According to Juan González, work is being done in three fields: attention to those who arrive, moving the procedures to the countries of origin and addressing the causes that cause emigration.
However, González also insisted on the usual message from Biden's team: "Don't come."
The official noted: “Number one, the border is not open.
Number two, we are trying to respond quickly and robustly to the humanitarian situation in countries that were hit by the hurricanes and number three, we are developing strategies in conjunction with those countries in the region to create opportunities and combat the insecurity that leads to individuals to emigrate ”, he detailed.
Three days after Ambassador Roberta Jacobson's visit to Mexico, González revealed that her objective is for asylum applications to be processed in the country of origin, an approach that contrasts with the natural principle of asylum, which is to facilitate security for those who he has to flee his country to save his skin.
"Those who have credible asylum requests, we have to create legal paths so that they do not have to flee to their countries and can from their country of origin," González told reporters.
The interview with the officials coincided with the visit to the border that a group of Republican senators led by Ted Cruz made this Friday.
Senators accused Biden of provoking a crisis by eliminating Trump's policies such as the construction of the wall and the Stay in Mexico program that forced Central Americans to apply for humanitarian asylum in Mexico while their case was studied.
"That caused the numbers to drop dramatically," Cruz said.
“The policies worked and what did Biden do?
He arrived and immediately eliminated this international agreement with the Government of Mexico, and that caused 100,000 people to be intercepted last month entering the United States illegally, "said the Republican, who assured on Twitter that during his journey he encountered alleged human traffickers .
For González, however, the solutions proposed by Trump were "to raise walls and ignore our international humanitarian obligations and dismantle the legal immigration and asylum system," he said during the interview.
“That was the answer and forget about all the problems south of the border.
When we know that the migratory flow and the flow of drugs and weapons go through the entry points;
the walls don't work ”.
In their review of Central America, González and Zúñiga, who had to postpone their visit to Guatemala this week due to the eruption of the Pacaya volcano, insisted on linking migration talks to trade agreements and Human Rights.
According to González, after the departure of the CICIG of Guatemala and the Maccih of Honduras (two international prosecutors' offices that achieved important coups and imprisonments to combat corruption) “we saw the need to have an effort to move quickly against the corruption using the tools of the United States, including the ability to suspend visas, to sanction individuals and to freeze assets used in corruption for violation of Human Rights and money laundering of drug trafficking ”.
González also insisted on the need to support the institutions of these countries, where many times there are prosecutors working alone against corruption ”.
The newly appointed Ricardo Zúñiga acknowledged that it was "disappointing" for the United States to see the departure of MACCIH and CICIG "after such an important effort by then Vice President Biden and the United States to support those structures."
Regarding El Salvador, Zúñiga said that “all the Central American countries (are important) but El Salvador is“ very important ”and recognized the work of the recently created anti-corruption office, CICIES, as a“ tool that is helping to strengthen the State of Law ”.
Regarding Guatemala, Zúñiga said that "we have seen very important efforts to collaborate in the efforts against organized crime and drug trafficking (...) and we have also received clear signals to combat what they see as a threat to the rule of law of these same organizations" said Zúñiga, Honduran by birth.
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