Mexico Faces Humanitarian Crisis as Biden Migration Policy Kicks In Mary Beth Sheridan - The Washington Post | |
go to original May 14, 2023 |
Hender Graterol, a 29-year-old from Venezuela, digs a trench and builds a barrier wall of mud around the area where he keeps his tent to prevent it from flooding as thousands of migrants wait in an encampment in Matamoros. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Will President Biden’s new limits on asylum discourage migrants from making a trek that was already dangerous, expensive, and even painful? Will people seeking to escape severe poverty and violence have the patience to wait abroad for asylum appointments? Will Mexico be able to respond to Washington’s urgent requests to detain U.S.-bound migrants, while also keeping the peace in places like Matamoros?
Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Tex., offers a glimpse of the unintended consequences that erupt with a change in immigration policy. In the past month, Venezuelans surged into the city, with the number of migrants jammed into shelters, apartments and flimsy tents jumping from around 700 to more than 6,000, according to Juan José Rodríguez Alvarado, head of the Tamaulipas state’s migration institute.
Some had heard rumors that migrants would be allowed to enter the United States more easily once a pandemic-era restriction, Title 42, was retired Thursday night. That rule allowed U.S. authorities to summarily expel asylum seekers.
The Biden administration’s new policy requires asylum seekers to make appointments for their interviews on an app, CBP One, that’s plagued by glitches. They can be disqualified if they already passed through another country where they could have applied for refuge, like Mexico. Those deported will now face a five-year ban on reentry.
Fearing such obstacles, hundreds of migrants poured across the Rio Grande to seek asylum Thursday, scrambling up Texas riverbanks strung with concertina wire and lined by U.S. border officials and National Guard troops. Earlier in the week, unlawful crossings topped 10,000 per day, but on Friday, Customs and Border Protection recorded a significant drop, with only 6,300 apprehensions, according to CBP data obtained by The Washington Post. An additional 1,500 migrants were processed at ports of entry on Friday.
But with nearly 27,000 migrants jamming border cities, Mexican authorities have acted cautiously to avoid inflaming the situation. Migration agents, who generally don’t carry weapons, were deployed along the riverbank in Matamoros on Thursday. But many migrants brushed off their warnings not to cross to the U.S. side.
The Mexican government deployed extra national guard troops, but disarmed them “with the goal of avoiding confrontations with groups of migrants,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Friday.
Nonetheless, under U.S. pressure, Mexico has pledged to continue a crackdown on U.S.-bound migrants that began during the Trump administration. On Friday, authorities went a step further, announcing they were suspending permits that allowed undocumented migrants to transit Mexico. The move followed the temporary closure of 33 government migrant-holding facilities, because of an investigation following a deadly fire in March at a detention center in Ciudad Juárez. That left authorities with less space to house undocumented migrants.
The U.S. government has considered Mexico a crucial partner in containing the northward flow of migrants. In 2022, it apprehended nearly 450,000 migrants, more than triple the number in 2018. For all its efforts, though, a record number of migrants were detained by U.S. border agents last year.
Read the rest at Washington Post
Related: End of Title 42 Border Policy Brings Reset but No Sudden Rush (Washington Post)
Related: Title 42 Is Over. Here’s How It Works at the Border Now (Washington Post)
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