2023-12-24 00:00:18
Migrations from the American South to the United States have reached unprecedented alluvial levels. Only last November 242 thousand people were arrested who were demanding asylum. Almost 200,000 of them tried to cross the border illegally.
In recent weeks, border police have reported about 10,000 crossings per day. If you look at the year between October 2022 and last September, the number is surprising: there were 2.4 million migrants who were intercepted by land.
These arrivals, triggered by the economic crisis in the global south aggravated by the pandemic, put the states and the US federal border police under pressure, a crisis that exposes the administration of Democrat Joe Biden to strong attacks from his Republican adversariesheading into an election year.
Since last Tuesday, the railroad tracks at the Eagle Pass and El Paso bridges, in Texas, were closed due to a “resurgence” of illegal entry of migrants on freight trains.
Border guards detain migrants who crossed the Rí Grande to reach Eagle Pass, Texas, this Friday. Photo: REUTERS
At Eagle Pass, vehicle crossings have been suspended several times since the beginning of the month, as have a crossing point in Arizona and another in California. The border police say they are having to redeploy their personnel to focus on intercepting and registering migrants.
Criticism of the White House
After accusing President Biden of “deliberate inaction” in the face of the situation, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed a controversial law on Monday that penalizes clandestine income in his state. This declared supporter of Donald Trump, the favorite tycoon to win the Republican nomination, symbolically signed this law in Brownsville, in front of a section of the border wall, an emblematic project of the populist former president.
The law creates a “criminal offense of illegally entering Texas from a foreign country,” punishable by between six months and 20 years in prison for repeat offenses.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, despite being a Democrat, also accused the White House of “refusing to do its job,” blaming it in particular for the closure of a border crossing in her state.
Hobbs announced on December 15 that he was sending National Guard forces to the border. The size of the problem explains why Biden has decided to send his Foreign Minister, Antony Blinken, and his Minister of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to Mexico in the coming days to analyze, together with the president of that country, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ways to stop this massive flow, according to the White House.
The number of undocumented immigrants trying to enter the US is constantly increasing. Photo: REUTERS
On December 6, Biden said he was willing to make “important compromises” with Republicans, who demand a strong tightening of immigration policy in exchange for lifting its blockade in Congress on aid to Ukraine vis-à-vis Russia.
The pressure on Joe Biden
The situation of the Democratic president is also delicate in the face of his progressive electorate, which hopes that Biden will break with Trump’s openly xenophobic policy towards immigrants, mainly those from Latin America who arrive fleeing poverty and violence.
In any case, the flow does not appear to be close to reversing. Panama recently noted that since the beginning of the year, half a million people had crossed the dangerous Darien junglewhich separates this country from Colombia, to reach the United States, double that in 2022.
Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Control Troy Miler called on the US Congress to approve more resources to “improve border security and national security with historically high levels of migration.”
In November, that organization registered more than 64,811 arrests of people of Mexican nationality, followed by Venezuelans, with 34,063 arrests, and Guatemalans, with 26,299. It detected an increase in migration from Guatemala and a 16% drop in Venezuelan migrants.
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