SAN SALVADOR – For the past two years, the United States government has closed its southern border to asylum seekers under the Title 42 measure, approved during the administration of Donald Trump to prevent, during the COVID-19 emergency, irregular immigrants will enter the North American nation. This measure comes to an end on May 11 and two of the governments of the Northern Triangle of Central America have prepared themselves with campaigns on social networks, at border points and consulates to inform migrants about what the end of the measure means for them. prevent cheating.
“Do not fall for the misinformation of human traffickers who only seek to profit from necessity. We are strongly with information campaigns because it is painful to witness the human drama of these people,” said Salvadoran Vice Minister of Diaspora and Human Mobility, Cindy Portal, in a televised interview on May 8, at the channel 21 from that country.
The official from El Salvador added that the end of Title 42 does not mean “that it will be easier to enter the United States, on the contrary.” She mentioned that after the completion of Title 42, Title 8 comes into effect, with which people who need to start refugee processes in the United States will have to go to Guatemala or Colombia to process them.
Portal made reference to the recent measures announced by the US government, in which the new processing centers for immigrants in Guatemala and Colombia stand out, countries where cases will be evaluated for legal migration alternatives not only in the United States but also in Spain and Canada. However, asylum is not among those options.
The available options proposed by the United States through the new centers are the Refugee Resettlement Program or the humanitarian parole, which currently applies to Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans or Haitians; as well as work visas. Asylum can only be applied for in US territory and refuge must be sought while outside that country.
For this reason, Guatemala, one of the host countries of new processing centers He has been promoting a campaign for weeks through the Guatemalan Institute of Migration with messages such as: “The southern border of the United States remains closed. Do not migrate irregularly” or “do not be another returnee”. This after having received between September 2021 and January 2023 more than 41,000 Guatemalans returned under the Title 42 measure.
“It is important to make it known that the southern border of that country remains closed and returns by air from that country will continue,” the institution added in a statement.
Honduras, meanwhile, which ranks second in refugee applications in Mexico at the end of April 2023, has a different approach: assisting migrants in transit to the United States within hours of the end of Title 42. Without a visible campaign on social networks about what the end of the measure means, the National Institute of Migration of that country reported which between January 16 and April 30 of this year has assisted 11,700 migrants who were heading towards the southern US border.
United States shields its border
At this time, the United States reinforces its border with 1,500 military personnelin support of federal agents, due to the increase in the number of migrants who arrive encouraged by disinformation campaigns.
“Don’t listen to the lies of the traffickers. They will be returned,” said the secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Wednesday. in press conference. A message to which the Mexican government has joined.
The foreign minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, warned on May 5 that “coyotes” or human traffickers are charging up to $7,000 to smuggle migrants under the delusion that as of May 12 they will be able to enter the United States.
“Those who are telling them that for $7,000 they are going to take them to the border (…) and that they are not going to return them, it is false, they are deceiving them,” said the official at a press conference, after warning that a “very important flow” of migrants have approached the border due to misinformation about the repeal of Title 42.
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