FROM THE WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT. America’s spotlight is on the Mexican border. At midnight on Thursday, when it will be dawn on Friday in Italy, the Title 42 will expire after three years. And immigrants who enter the United States illegally will have the opportunity to apply for asylum, something that has been denied for the past three years. Title 42 is a rule imposed at the beginning of the Covid pandemic that allows Americans to expel anyone who crosses the border illegally for health reasons very quickly.
The Biden Administration first tried to loosen the links of the rule, but then – thanks to some sentences of the federal judges – kept it in force. Until today, when every restriction related to Covid – starting with vaccination obligations and entry into the United States with the test and health documents – has expired.
Tens of thousands of people have been massing along the southern borders for weeks. They are camped out in tents, in emergency shelters, in reception centers and waiting to be able to cross the border and seek asylum.
Mexico-USA border, 250,000 migrants await the end of the restrictions to enter American territory
According to estimates, there are at least 150,000 people from Central and South America waiting for the X hour. Border points of Ciudad Juarez/El Paso, Laredo, Nogales are at the limit. For months, US towns along the border have reported the presence of thousands of people – asylum seekers – in reception centers.
Since the spring of 2022, the Republican governors of states such as Texas and Florida (Abbott and DeSantis) have organized special buses to transfer immigrants to the big northern cities, between New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, to “share” the burdens and the weight of acceptance.
In Washington alone, 170 buses have arrived, several hotels in the suburban belt are hosting Latin American families, over 300 children are enrolled in schools in the capital. In New York there are 58 thousand migrants, the hospitality structures are collapsing. The management of the reception costs 8 million dollars every day and the mayor of the Big Apple has asked the neighboring counties to host new people.
All this has happened in recent months, but the fear is that with the end of Title 42 the flows will become uncontainable.
The Biden Administration explained that “the borders remain closed” and that new restrictions will come. In short, anyone who does not meet the requirements to apply for asylum will be immediately rejected.
The crux is the length of the process that Title 42 made immediate. In the cities of northern Mexico there are thousands of families who will flock to the United States, throwing the application evaluation system into chaos. What is happening is a perfect storm between administrative, bureaucratic and political crisis. Last week Biden decided to send 1500 troops to the border. They will not have the task of rejecting migrants, but will occupy the offices freeing up resources among the customs guards.
In recent weeks, the number of encounters (i.e. illegal immigrants arrested, many are blocked even 4-5 times in a few weeks, hence the yardstick of encounters for measuring border violations) have increased dramatically, a sign of pressure at the border.
Many people come from countries in dramatic economic crisis: like Venezuela. According to some data, around 7.2 million people – a quarter of the entire population – have left the country since 2015. Also increasing are the Cubans and Nicaraguans who have become hundreds of thousands along the northern route. Haiti is another place from which thousands are fleeing.
President Biden has signed an agreement with his Mexican counterpart Obrador to try to stem caravans from the southern border of Mexico and dissuade migrants from arriving at the borders with the United States. One of the elements of the agreement is that the US can deport non-Mexican immigrants to Mexico. In return, the United States accepts the same number of asylum seekers who have applied to enter the United States at the consulates of their countries of origin. “Don’t come, the borders are closed,” Biden said alongside Obrador in the fall and again in January. But judging by the numbers of people crammed into borders or already in US towns in the border area, it’s not working.
Democratic senators and deputies from states such as Arizona, one of the hardest hit by the migration crisis together with Texas, have criticized the slowness with which Biden has prepared for the end of Title 42. But these are not isolated voices. Meanwhile, the Republicans in the House are working on a law – the draft is 213 pages long – to strengthen controls, finance the construction of the missing pieces of wall along the border, strengthen hi-tech border surveillance methods, increase the number of border agents.