Arrests of migrants illegally crossing the southern border of the United States fell 96% in the first two months of 2023, according to officials from the Department of Homeland Security. However, the drama experienced by migrants trying to cross leaves darker episodes every day that include abuse, kidnapping and death.
A controversial solution. Since January 2023, the Administration of Democrat Joe Biden expanded the expulsion policy due to the Covid-19 pandemic known as Title 42, a legacy of Donald Trump that allows immediate deportations of immigrants and limits the right to request political asylum, especially to from Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti. Venezuelans were already suffering from the measure since October of last year.
Since then, the figures show a major decrease in the arrests of migrants who crossed irregularly: they decreased 96% in the first two months of the year, according to figures provided to EFE by an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS for its acronym in English).
Between January and February of this year alone, the lowest level of arrests since 2021 was recorded. Encounters between US authorities and migrants went from an average of 1,231 at the beginning of January to an average of 46 at the end of February.
But while Biden tightened the income on the southern border of the United States, he proposed a temporary solution to the immigration drama through a humanitarian parole for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Those coming from these countries that share deep economic crises, insecurity and complaints of political persecution of opponents, can request entry from their embassies and enter the United States by plane, with a temporary permit that allows them to work and live there, as long as they have a financially stable sponsor in the United States.
According to data from the Department of Homeland Security official, as of March 31, 55,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians received travel authorization. More than 40,000 Venezuelans have been authorized from October to March.
Nearly 15,000 Cubans, more than 18,000 Haitians, more than 7,500 Nicaraguans, and more than 32,000 Venezuelans legally reached the United States through these processes.
“Since the President’s announcement in January, arrests at ports of entry on the Southwest border have dramatically decreased. The successful use of these processes clearly demonstrates that non-citizens prefer to use a safe, legal, and orderly path to the United States if there is one available, rather than putting their lives in the hands of ruthless smugglers,” the source added.
Title 42, the criticized Trump inheritance that Biden extended
But for the Biden Administration to use a measure that was labeled “cruel” during the Trump Administration has drawn strong criticism from human rights organizations and even from some members of the Democratic Party.
The measure closes one of the main avenues of protection for vulnerable people: the right to request asylum upon arrival on US soil.
This right is contained in Article 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and is independent of nationality, or even the route or means that the migrant chose to reach the United States.
Eighty Democratic congressmen led by Senator Robert Menéndez asked the Executive to reverse the decision to expel people from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti who cross the border with Mexico irregularly.
But the Biden government defends the measure arguing that it must continue to apply that regulation by order of the Supreme Court. Since 2020, when Title 42 came into force under the premise of health security as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2.5 million migrants have been expelled, according to data from the International Rescue Committee organization.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of National Security, highlighted “a significant decrease in the arrivals of Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians between our ports of entry on the southern border. This is the model that we have built and that we will continue to build.”
But that “model” consists largely of asylum restrictions and removals, something that could explain the sharp drop in apprehensions at the southern border, according to an analysis by Adam Isacson, director of the Defense Oversight program at WOLA, an organization independent that monitors the performance of the US in Latin America.
“Despite promising to restore and strengthen the American asylum system, the Biden Administration, following federal court orders, has kept in place the most severe restriction: the March 2020 Title 42 pandemic removal order. Title 42 could end in May, along with the US government public health emergency,” Isacson wrote. in an analysis published by WOLA.
According to the analyst, it is likely that new restrictive measures for migrants will come after Title 42.
“The Biden Administration has no intention of restoring the right to seek asylum as it existed before the pandemic. As administration officials try to prevent the large-scale arrival of immigrants seeking protection, their plan is taking shape. Two sweeping new measures are in the works to limit asylum at the border, and both resemble policies the Trump administration had tried to enforce,” he explained.
While border policy is defined, the migratory flow increases and the dangers
More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Darién jungle so far this year, on the border between Colombia and Panama, a historic figure that shows a “worrying increase” by six-fold that of the same period in 2022, warned the UN Agency for Refugees, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM.
Panama, a country that receives migrants who survive the dangerous jungle, predicts that, if this rate of arrivals in the country is maintained, 2023 “could close with the crossing of more than 400,000 people” traveling irregularly to North America.
“Panama is facing one of the most challenging crises of mixed movements in the last decade, as part of an unprecedented displacement across the Americas,” reveals the UNHCR-IOM joint statement.
Eduardo Leblanc, Ombudsman of Panama, commented that from January 1 to mid-April, almost 100,000 people had crossed the jungle. In all of 2022 there were 248,284, and the previous year 133,726, both historical figures at the time.
UNHCR and the IOM “report that people leave their country of origin frequently for economic reasons, including lack of access to employment.” “More than half of the people also report having fled their countries due to general levels of insecurity or threats, as well as specific attacks against them and their family members,” they said.
The dangers of the road to the United States
Crossing the Darién is just one example of the risks migrants face on their way to the United States. Behind the figures of the reduction in the arrival of migrants to the North American country are also hidden the numbers of victims left behind by the journey.
In late March, a fire at a center of Mexico’s National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with the United States, left 39 people dead and dozens more injured. Mexico has identified eight alleged perpetrators of the incident that caused a stir, especially since surveillance video showed how officials left the place and left the migrants locked up despite the fire.
Last month, Mexico rescued 343 migrants who were abandoned by the driver in the bed of a truck in Veracruz. The majority were Central Americans and among them were 103 unaccompanied minors.
Last week, Mexican authorities rescued 121 migrants who had been kidnapped in San Luis Potosí. According to the testimonies, the criminals asked their relatives for $3,000 under threat of murder.
“There must be a better way for migrants to seek protection, rather than being forced down unsafe routes, dominated by organized crime and corrupt officials, to set foot on American soil and claim asylum,” Isacson said.
with EFE
