Enlarge image
A refugee girl plays in front of a tent in Tapachula, Mexico
Photo: Toya Sarno Jordan / Getty Images
When Alejandra Gutiérrez woke up early in the morning, they were already surrounded by security forces.
It was still dark.
The Venezuelan mother and her four children stayed on a sports field in Huixtla, Mexico, along with hundreds of other refugees.
Then she heard the screams.
Gutiérrez saw security forces beating people with sticks.
Then she was pushed to the ground, as was her 13-year-old daughter, who was holding the youngest child, still a baby.
"I was scared," Gutierrez says, "they hit me." She points to her arm.
Her three-year-old daughter was initially lost in the chaos.
Gutiérrez and three of her children were brought to a hostel in the southern city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, which she has not been allowed to leave since then.
Tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers are currently doing the same as Gutiérrez.
You're stuck in Mexico.
Under the administration of President Biden, of all places, the US is relying even more heavily than before on its southern neighbor as a bouncer - with dramatic consequences.
"We have a humanitarian crisis in Mexico on both borders, in the north and in the south," says Victor Clark Alfaro from the Center for Human Rights in Tijuana.
In the northern border towns tent cities have now emerged, where organized crime is spreading.
In the south, many people seeking protection live in overcrowded hostels, slums and on the streets.
Biden wanted to end Trump's "inhuman" immigration policy
The expectations of President Joe Biden were high: he wanted to end Donald Trump's "inhuman" immigration policy, and that was one of his campaign promises. The system should be reformed and there should be less trauma and mistreatment of refugees.
Eight months after Biden took office, there isn't much left of it - or not much has been implemented yet. The number of migrants who are on their way has meanwhile reached record highs. They come from Central America and Mexico, but recently also from South America, Haiti and - since Europe has become more and more inaccessible - increasingly even from Africa and Asia. They are fleeing dictators and gang violence due to natural disasters and extreme poverty as a result of the corona crisis - and most of them are stopped before they can even set foot on US soil or apply for asylum.
The US government announced on Saturday that it would increase its deportation flights.
The homeland security ministry announced that the number of deportation flights to Haiti and other countries in the region and their passenger capacities should be expanded "in the next 72 hours."
The Biden government relies on the resources of its predecessor.
"The government has changed less of Trump's policies than we expected," says analyst Jessica Bolter of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) think tank in Washington.
Deportation continues, for example, as part of the so-called »Title 42«, a practice that human rights organizations strongly criticize.
Under Trump, a regulation was introduced that made it possible to throw people out of the country immediately after crossing the border illegally under the premise of epidemic protection during the corona pandemic - without them being able to apply for asylum.
In July alone, this happened in 96,000 cases.
"The whole process takes an average of 90 minutes," says Christoph Jankhoefer from "Doctors Without Borders" (MSF).
In addition, migrants from the border guards are often not released again where they came from, but hundreds of kilometers further away, in another city.
"It looks like the current government wants to use the corona crisis to maintain this approach for as long as possible."
The Biden government has introduced some improvements for refugees, explains MPI analyst Bolter.
For example, unaccompanied minors would no longer be deported under "Title 42".
Exceptions would also be made for families with young children.
According to local observers, however, it is by no means for all families.
The number of those who - for the time being - make it to the USA has increased significantly overall
On the other hand, the framework conditions have also changed: The USA would have difficulties sending back people from Africa, South America or the Caribbean.
Mexico simply does not accept this.
The number of those who - for the time being - make it to the USA has increased significantly overall.
A tent city was also recently built on the US side in the state of Texas.
10,000 asylum seekers gathered there in the sweltering heat in a makeshift camp under a bridge at the end of this week.
But due to the immense rush, the so-called "expulsions", the expulsions after "Title 42", have also increased significantly under Biden in absolute numbers.
A court has now ruled that the practice for families must be stopped.
The Biden government has already appealed.
How it will continue is unclear.
The "Remain in Mexico" program, also introduced by Trump, was always considered particularly cruel.
According to this, migrants who have already applied for asylum in the USA had to wait in Mexico for their legal proceedings and their notifications.
Families were housed in the most dangerous cities in the world - and there were many victims of kidnapping, rape and child abuse.
The program affected more than 70,000 people.
Biden got rid of it.
But now it is facing a revival: "Remain in Mexico" must be reintroduced, decided an American court.
The now largely conservative Supreme Court did not intervene.
Republican campaigns portray those seeking protection as a health risk
"It is still unclear in what scale the program will be relaunched," says Bolter from MPI. "I could well imagine that the new edition will target the groups that are now difficult to deport, that is, families and people from the Caribbean and South America." Pressure to reduce the number of migrant asylum seekers in the US. The Republicans' campaigns also portray those seeking protection as a health risk - and blame them for the increasing number of infections.
Victor Clark Alfaro of the Tijuana Center for Human Rights believes the court decision will be convenient for the Biden government. “The program is a deterrent.” In addition, many lost patience and hope during the lengthy process, then returned to their home countries or tried to cross the border into the US illegally, thereby forfeiting their right to asylum.
How the program is designed depends not least on the Mexican government, which is not bound by the decision of the American courts. However, Clark Alfaro believes that this would do little to counter the demands of the Biden government. The power and economic relations are too asymmetrical. In addition, the Mexican government has a great interest in being left alone by the Americans in order to settle internal matters.
Mexico is clearly using military force to keep migrants off US soil.
Thousands of National Guard security forces were also deployed for this purpose.
The goal is to stop the people in the south of the country.
There are checkpoints on the streets every 50 kilometers.
Thousands of people seeking protection are also interned in migration centers under catastrophic conditions.
Tapachula, where around 40,000 people are currently waiting, is now like a kind of “prison city”, writes the Mexican journalist Alberto Pradilla.
Mexico's President Andrés López Obrador announced that all of this was being done to protect migrants. After all, drug cartels and violence were rife in the north.
"People are extremely depressed"
At the same time, the number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has grown exponentially. 100,000 applications are expected by the end of the year. Since the border into the USA is completely closed for most of them, Mexico is also becoming a destination country from a transit country. The Mexican migration authority, whose financial resources have been continuously reduced in recent years, is completely overwhelmed by the rush. "In Tapachula, people currently wait up to four months for an appointment just to be able to submit an asylum application," says Jankhoefer of "Doctors Without Borders". Then one would have to wait many more months for an answer. "People are extremely depressed," said Jankhoefer. "Doctors Without Borders" sent an emergency team to the city in September due to the crisis.
"A policy that largely outsources the migration problem to Mexico is unsustainable," says MPI analyst Boter, "aside from moral issues." Instead, she advocates reforming the asylum system in the USA.
This must be accelerated, as applicants currently have to wait years for a final decision.
In addition, temporary work visas could be a solution - people without a reason for asylum would not be completely excluded right away.
The US has a need for cheap labor.
On the other hand, many migrants did not want to leave their home countries forever, they simply wanted to earn some money.
"We want to continue our journey, but we cannot get out of here"
However, the current situation at the border makes this impossible.
She believes that financial »combating the causes of flight« in the refugees' home countries, as announced by the Biden government, would hardly be able to ease the situation in the medium term.
Alejandra Gutiérrez, the mother from Venezuela, is still staying with her four children in a hostel in Tapachula.
After three days, their young daughter was found with a different group of migrants.
The Mexican Migration Agency celebrated the reunion on social media as a great success.
Nobody knows exactly where the child spent all these hours.
"It was the worst time of my life," says Gutierrez, fighting back tears.
Now she sleeps with around 300 people in a large room on mattresses on the floor.
"We have no money for food or diapers," she says, "we want to continue our journey, but we can't get out of here."
This contribution is part of the Global Society project
Expand areaWhat is the Global Society project?
Reporters from
Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe
report under the title “Global Society”
- on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development.
The reports, analyzes, photo series, videos and podcasts appear in the international section of SPIEGEL.
The project is long-term and will be supported for three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
A detailed FAQ with questions and answers about the project can be found here.
AreaWhat does the funding look like in concrete terms?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting the project for three years with a total of around 2.3 million euros.
Are the journalistic content independent of the foundation?
Yes.
The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes.
Big European media like "The Guardian" and "El País" have set up similar sections on their news sites with "Global Development" and "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Have there already been similar projects at SPIEGEL?
In the past few years, SPIEGEL has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: the “Expedition ÜberMorgen” on global sustainability goals and the journalistic refugee project “The New Arrivals” as part of this several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and flight have been produced.
Where can I find all publications on global society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL on the topic Global Society.