After Biden’s visit, US senators assess the situation on the southern border

A bipartisan delegation of eight senators evaluates the situation on the southern border of the United States with Mexico, in a tour that began this Monday in El Paso, Texas, and will continue tomorrow in Yuma, Arizona, two of the cities hardest hit by the current crisis. migratory in the northern country.

The group of legislators is led by Senator Kyrsten Sinema, formerly a Democrat and now an independent, and by Republican Senator John Cornyn. Democrats Mark Kelly, Chris Murphy and Chris Coons, and Republicans Thom Tillis, James Lankford and Jerry Moran complete the delegation.

The senators’ visit comes hours after President Joe Biden arrived in El Paso, the largest corridor of irregular crossings into the US, on Sunday on his first trip to the southern border since arriving at the White House.

“It is not fair that border cities like El Paso and Yuma have to bear the burden of this immigration crisis,” emphasized Senator Sinema in a meeting with local authorities, including El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.

For Sinema, the current immigration situation is the result of “failed attempts by administration after administration.”

“That is why we are trying to find a solution from Congress, within the framework of the law,” warned the senator at a joint press conference after the exchange, while assuring that they are working within the “legal framework” of a proposal, although he warned that it would be “premature” to advance details of a possible deadline for presentation.

“We are here to listen to the experts and take these experiences to Washington,” Cornyn said, highlighting the presence of both Republicans and Democrats in the delegation and insisted that the immigration issue should be a “common effort.”

US immigration authorities registered a record 2.2 million apprehensions of irregular migrants in the 2022 fiscal year that ended in September, a figure that includes people who attempted to cross multiple times.

Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were the countries that contributed the most migrants to this count, for which reason the administration of the Democrat Biden implemented a “humanitarian parole” programalso extended to Haitians, which combines visa quotas with a reinforcement of measures against irregular entries.

During his brief stay of just over three hours, the US president visited the border with Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez on Sunday, spoke with Customs officials and toured the Bridge of the Americas, one of the busiest entry points on the border.

Critics of the president, mostly from the Republican party, describe immigration policy as “weak” of the current administration, which they consider responsible for the current crisis. Meanwhile, Biden accuses Republican legislators of not approving an additional fund of 3.5 billion dollars to finance the expansion of border personnel.

The delegation of US senators insisted in El Paso that the immigration system “is broken” and promised to “work to understand the situation and bring their experiences to Washington.”

The mayor of El Paso, Oscar Leeser, thanked the legislators for their presence and emphasized that the immigration problem “is not only an El Paso problem, it is a United States problem.”

“The financing [para enfrentar el reto migratorio] It is badly needed and will continue to be needed constantly until a permanent solution is found,” he added.

The bipartisan group will also accompany border patrol officers on an overnight drive before continuing on to Yuma, another hot spot on the border with Mexico.

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