Xinhua News Agency, Houston, May 11 Roundup: Another surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Jianmei
Before midnight Eastern Time on the 11th, the U.S. government will terminate the public health policy known as “Article 42” and no longer authorize law enforcement officers to quickly deport immigrants across the border on the grounds of containing the new crown epidemic. In recent weeks, a large number of migrants have crossed the border in border towns in Texas, California and other states adjacent to Mexico, and the wave of immigrants has once again surged.
U.S. President Biden said on the 9th that with the termination of “Article 42”, the border situation is expected to be “chaotic for a period of time.” And indeed it is. In recent days, more than 10,000 migrants have poured into the US-Mexico border with a total length of more than 3,100 kilometers every day. Judging from the pictures and videos on social media, many migrants trek across multiple river sections on the US-Mexico border, and hundreds of migrants climb over the border wall. At the main port of entry in Texas, thousands of immigrants line up every day, including many children.
Facing the tide of immigrants, US-Mexico border law enforcement officers are obviously unable to do what they want. El Paso, Brownsville and other Texas border cities have recently declared a state of emergency. Areas far from the U.S.-Mexico border were also hit. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on the 9th due to the influx of immigrants, and New York City asked for more federal assistance. of resources have reached a “limit point”.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has detained more than 28,000 migrants across the border as of the morning of the 10th, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas emphasized at a press conference in Washington that day that the termination of “Article 42” does not mean “the opening of the U.S. borders” and that those who cross the border illegally will “face more serious consequences.”
In response to the immigration wave triggered by the termination of “Article 42”, the Biden administration announced that it will send about 1,500 additional National Guard members to the US-Mexico border. The military forces deployed by the federal government on the US-Mexico border will eventually reach about 4,000. The Biden administration has also adopted a series of measures such as recruiting more “contract personnel”, setting up new detention facilities, and increasing deportation flights. Texas Governor Abbott also recently announced the deployment of additional law enforcement personnel, equipped with Black Hawk helicopters and other equipment.
Under a new rule that went into effect on the 10th, the Biden administration will also largely prohibit immigrants who pass through other countries on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border from applying for asylum in the United States. Illegal cross-border immigrants, and bar them from entering the United States for at least 5 years, and repeated illegal border crossers can face felony charges.
In recent years, the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has continued to hit new highs, and the wave of immigrants has shown an intensifying trend. From the Trump administration to the Biden administration, regardless of the public stance and the intensity of the bipartisan attacks, most of the measures to curb illegal immigration are actually in the same line. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show that since 2018, the number of cross-border immigrants apprehended at the U.S. border has increased sixfold, reaching a record high of 2.4 million by 2022.
In March 2020, the then U.S. President Trump implemented “Article 42” on the grounds of epidemic prevention, prohibiting illegal border crossers from applying for asylum in the United States. Statistics from the federal government show that since the implementation of “Article 42”, US law enforcement officials have deported about 2.8 million illegal immigrants on this ground. But in fact, a large number of deported immigrants stay on the Mexican side for a long time and cross the border repeatedly, and the immigration wave occurs many times every year. With the termination of “Article 42”, a large number of immigrants once again gathered at the US-Mexico border to “try their luck”, but judging from the new measures announced by the Biden administration, their fate may not be optimistic.
Analysts believe that the new crown epidemic, political turmoil, climate change, etc. have exacerbated the wave of immigration stemming from poverty and violence. The two parties in the United States have fiercely attacked each other on the immigration issue, and many conflicting messages have been released, which has also exacerbated the chaos on the US border. Judging from the situation in recent years, although the US government has racked its brains on the immigration issue, it has neither cured the symptoms nor the root cause. As long as the root causes of the immigration wave are not eliminated, the immigration wave will continue to hit the United States in the near future.
Source: Xinhuanet