By Colleen Long -
The Associated Press
The governments of the United States and Mexico agreed on Tuesday new immigration policies to discourage illegal crossing of the border between the two countries, given the foreseeable increase in migrants a few days before the end of Title 42.
National Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other top officials announced a five-point plan.
Under the agreement, Mexico will continue to accept immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away at the border, and will allow up to 100,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have family in the United States to live and work in their country. territory.
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Under Title 42, a sanitary measure implemented by the Donald Trump Administration at the beginning of the pandemic, the US authorities have rejected more than two million migrants who crossed the southern border irregularly.
This restriction will come to an end on May 11, and with it a record number of arrivals is expected.
Faced with this situation, the Government of President Joe Biden reported last week that it will open processing centers for asylum seekers in Central American and Latin American countries to initiate the procedures (or deny them) long before the migrants can reach the border of the United States. United States and Mexico.
The first centers will be in Guatemala and Colombia.
Biden also announced Tuesday that he will send 1,500 troops to the border with Mexico to assist Border Patrol in containing the arrival of migrants.
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Mexico's support is critical to any US attempt to clamp down on the southern border, especially since immigrants from countries as far away as Haiti traverse Mexico on foot and the process of returning them to their country of origin is not easy. .
With Mexico's backing for the measures announced by the United States, border agents believe they will be able to manage the massive crossings, overcrowding at processing centers and other problems that may arise when the COVID-19 restrictions end.
Biden, who announced a week ago that he is running for re-election in 2024, is trying to imply that his administration is making a serious effort to reduce the number of illegal crossings, which has been a potent source of Republican attacks.
He is also trying to send a message to potential immigrants not to try to cross the border.
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However, this effort may also lead to comparisons with Trump, whose policies Biden frequently criticized.
Congress, for its part, has refused to take any substantive action on immigration.
Migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua
The United States will continue to turn away Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who cross illegally.
But Mexico confirmed Tuesday that it would continue to accept up to 30,000 migrants a month from these four countries, which each time account for a higher percentage of irregular border crossings.
According to data on asylum seekers in Mexico, people from Haiti remain in the lead with 18,860 so far this year, a number higher than the total for all of 2022.
For its part, the United States accepts 30,000 people from these four countries each month, to whom it grants work permits as long as they enter legally, have eligible sponsors and pass the background check process.
This program is valid for two years.
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The Government also plans to review more quickly the cases of immigrants who request asylum at the border itself, speed up the deportation of those it considers do not meet the requirements and penalize people who cross illegally or move irregularly through another country on its way to the US border.
In addition, 1,500 active duty troops will be deployed in the border area for 90 days, from the Army and Marines.
Currently there are already 2,500 members of the National Guard on the border.
Trump also deployed active-duty troops to the border, though White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed any similarities between Biden's immigration management and his predecessor's use of troops.
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The decision, however, has been criticized by members of Biden's party.
"The Biden Administration's militarization of the border is unacceptable," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-NJ.
“There is already a humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere, and the deployment of military personnel only indicates that migrants are a threat that requires our nation's troops to contain.
Nothing is further from reality, ”he added.