The US Homeland Security chief pledged on Sunday to use US immigration laws existing to process thousands of migrants expected to attempt to cross the southwest border with Mexico beginning May 12. It will be then that the administration of President Joe Biden puts an end to Title 42, a regulation linked to the coronavirus pandemic and that allows undocumented immigrants to be quickly expelled for health reasons.
The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, told the network this Sunday nbc that when the families arrive at the border, “they will be placed in immigration control proceedings, removal proceedings. If they make a redress claim, we will adjudicate that redress claim quickly.”
Mayorkas said the outcome of the cases of immigrants seeking to remain in the US could be resolved in “days or weeks.”
Mayorkas said that if an unaccompanied child arrives at the border, “we will comply with the law and the law states that we take custody of that child and we have 72 hours to transfer them to the Department of Health and Human Services.”
“Then it is up to the Department of Health and Human Services to identify a relative or a sponsor in the United States, to whom they can transfer the care of that child,” Mayorkas said, adding: “We have, under the law, humanitarian aid for these children. and we enforce that law.”
A “difficult” challenge
More than 2.4 million migrants have arrived at the US border in the past year, many from Central American countries, but also from countries in the Caribbean, Africa, Ukraine and other places. Many have been turned away, while others have fled into the US or been assigned immigration court dates months and years later.
Mayorkas outlined the scope of the problem that, as migrants, they face in the US, many of whom are fleeing poverty and political persecution in their countries of origin, and are trying to flee to the richest country in the world and to a better life.
“This is a really difficult challenge and it has been, as we all recognize, for years and years,” Mayorkas said. “We are seeing a level of migration not only on our southern border, but throughout the hemisphere, which is unprecedented (…) It is, I believe, the largest migration in our hemisphere since World War II.”
When the coronavirus pandemic was considered a widespread threat, US law gave border officials the authority to expeditiously remove those who cross the border into Mexico to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Those who were denied entry at the border often tried again and again to enter the United States, without facing legal consequences.
Insisting on help from Congress
Officials in the Biden administration sought to end the use of the coronavirus provision to keep immigrants away in favor of the country’s normal immigration laws, which require that violators cannot be readmitted to the US for five years. But attorneys general in Republican-controlled states obtained court rulings for the measure to continue. until May 11.
As a result, a new wave of migrants is expected starting May 12, even as existing migrant shelters in border cities and in other major US cities like New York and Chicago are overcrowded.
“Our approach is to build legal pathways, to crack down on ruthless traffickers, to provide legal pathways so that people can access humanitarian aid without having to undertake the dangerous journey from their home countries,” Mayorkas said. “And at the same time, if they reach our southern border between ports of entry, they will pay the price.”
Mayorkas considered that it is a “broken immigration system” in the US, with Congress failing for decades to reform its immigration laws.
“I just want to make it clear that we are working within significant limitations,” he said. “We need people, we need technology, we need facilities, we need transportation resources, all the elements to address the needs of a large population of people arriving irregularly at our southern border.”
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
