Biden administration defends itself against rising immigration
The United States is seeing an increase in arrivals at the southern border and this should continue in the coming weeks after the lifting of a measure linked to Covid-19.
US Border Patrol have apprehended an average of 7,800 undocumented migrants each day for the past three weeks, nearly five times more than between 2014 and 2019. (Illustrative image)
AFP
The Biden administration on Wednesday defended its policy of managing the U.S. southern border in the face of a surge in arrivals from Mexico that is expected to accelerate further in May after pandemic restrictions are expected to be lifted.
The American Minister of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas assured during a hearing before Congress that his services were ready to manage the new influx of migrants that his decision to put an end to “Title 42” on May 23 will surely cause. a device linked to Covid-19 which for two years has allowed the immediate expulsion of migrants arrested at the border.
Even without these restrictions being lifted, US border police have apprehended an average of 7,800 undocumented migrants each day for the past three weeks, nearly five times more than the average of 1,600 migrants recorded between 2014 and 2019, before the pandemic. .
“Broken system”
“A significant increase in the arrests of migrants will further increase the pressure on our system, and we will deal with it successfully,” Alejandro Mayorkas told a House of Representatives committee on Wednesday.
“We inherited a broken, dismantled and already strained system. It was not designed to manage these levels and types of migratory flows”, he regretted, asking Congress to vote for long-term reforms.
But the Biden administration’s desire to lift “Title 42” is threatened by a Louisiana judge’s decision on Monday, which ruled in favor of Republican-led states calling for the measure to be blocked. A hearing is scheduled for May 13 to determine whether the government can enforce this waiver.
Need help”
The minister detailed a plan to increase staff at the border, target smugglers, speed up procedures and help organizations that receive asylum seekers. “It’s going to take time, and we need the help of Congress, state and local elected officials, NGOs,” he said.
Since the implementation of “Title 42” in March 2020, authorities have deported migrants more than 1.7 million times. The decision to lift this measure was taken by the American health authorities (CDC), who believe that enough tools to fight the epidemic are now available to be able to put an end to the device.
Elected Republicans, however, attacked in a letter Alejandro Mayorkas, who according to them “failed to secure the border and enforce the laws passed by Congress”, and ask him to strengthen the means allocated to this file.
“Knife” or “screwdriver”
The subject also worries Democrats, who have in mind the crucial midterm elections scheduled for November. Some elected officials from the border states have expressed their reservations about the decisions of the White House, accused of not having a plan B to better control the border.
The Republicans could make the extension of the immediate refoulement measure a condition for the vote of new funding for the fight against Covid-19, which could themselves be included in a text of aid law. Ukraine, invaded on February 24 by Russia.
“It is not appropriate to use a public health law – Title 52, which mainly governs quarantines – to try to deal with the challenges posed by immigration”, estimated before another commission Xavier Becerra , the US Secretary of Health. “It’s like using a knife to screw, not a screwdriver,” he added.
Published: 27.04.2022, 22:39
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