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The Biden administration suffered a serious legal setback late Thursday when a federal judge temporarily blocked its bid to release immigrants more quickly when border guards Grab stations are full.
The imminent end of the rules known as Address 42 It sparked fear among immigrants that the changes would make it more difficult for them to stay in the United States
As the late-night deadline approaches, misinformation and confusion plague migrants as they cross the border at the Rio Grande, often unsure of where to go or what to do next.
In Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, crowds of immigrants — some clutching young children — waded through spring river streams, pushed through woods to face a barbed-wire border. Other migrants have settled into shelters in northern Mexico, intent on securing an asylum appointment that could take months to schedule online.
Many migrants were keenly aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Juan Daniel Barrios, a former military police officer from Venezuela as he walked with two friends along the border in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, in search of an opportunity. to seek asylum in the United States
“We have no money left, we have no food, we have no place to live, and the cartel is after us,” said Barrios, whose wife was in US custody. “What are we going to do, wait until they kill us?”
Last week, Barrios and his friends entered the United States and were expelled. They had little hope of a different outcome on Thursday.
On the American side of the river, many immediately surrendered to the authorities, hoping to be released while pursuing their cases in the backlog of immigration courts, which takes years.
It was not clear how many migrants are on the move or how long the increase might take. By Thursday evening, the flow appeared to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why that was, or whether crossings would increase again after coronavirus-related restrictions end.
Border Patrol stopped about 10,000 migrants on Tuesday, a US official reported – nearly double the level since March and slightly less than the 11,000 that authorities said was the maximum they can expect after Title 42 ends.
The official said more than 27,000 people are being held by US Customs and Border Protection.
“Our buses are full. “Our planes are full,” said Pedro Cárdenas, city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, with the new arrivals headed to locations across the United States.
President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled drastic new measures to replace Title 42, which since March 2020 has allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers across the border on grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande while trying to enter the United States. (Photo by Joe Riddle/Getty Images North America/AFP)
The new policies clamp down on illegal crossings while also setting out legal pathways for immigrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally change how migrants arrive at the US-Mexico border.
But it will take some time to see results. Biden acknowledged that the borders will be chaotic for some time. Immigrant advocacy groups threatened legal action. Immigrants fleeing poverty, gangs, and persecution at home remain desperate to reach the American mainland at any cost.
Many of the immigrants were keenly aware of the looming changes in policy as they searched Thursday for an opportunity to turn themselves in to US immigration authorities before the 11:59 a.m. EST deadline.
While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it had no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, the immigrants face being banned from entering the United States for five years and a possible criminal trial.
Detention facilities along the border were well over capacity, and Border Patrol agents were told to begin releasing some migrants with instructions to appear at US immigration within 60 days, according to a US official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and provided information to the Associated Press. On condition of anonymity.
Agents were also told to start their release in any area where detention facilities were at 125% capacity or the average time in detention exceeded 60 hours. In addition, the release could begin if 7,000 migrants are detained across the entire border in one day.
Late Thursday, a federal judge granted a request from Florida to temporarily block the releases, which the state said materially matched another administration policy that was earlier overturned in federal court. That policy ordered the Biden administration to end rapid releases of immigrants entering the United States illegally from Mexico.
The administration argued in the new case that banning the release would limit the government’s ability to manage the border at a time when an expected surge in arrivals could overwhelm border facilities.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas had already warned that more Border Patrol facilities would be overwhelmed in the future.
“I cannot overstate the pressure on our staff and our facilities,” he told reporters on Thursday.
He said the vast majority of immigrants would be placed in “expedited removal” proceedings and quickly expelled if they did not qualify to remain in the United States. “We have confidence in the legality of our actions,” he said.
Even as the migrants race to reach US soil before the rules expire, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said the smugglers are sending a different message. He noted an uptick in smugglers at his country’s southern border offering to take migrants to the United States and told them the border was open from Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced a rule that will make it extremely difficult for anyone who has traveled through another country, such as Mexico, or has not applied online, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for released families in the US ahead of initial asylum checks.
The administration says it is promoting the removal of immigrants who are found not eligible to remain in the United States on flights like the one that brought nearly 400 immigrants home to Guatemala from the United States on Thursday.
Among them was Chidi Mazarigos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after she was arrested near Brownsville.
She said, “I heard on the news that there was a chance to get in, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie.” The smugglers take her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They are quickly captured by Border Patrol agents.
Mazariegos said she made the trip because she is poor and hopes to be reunited with her sisters who live in the United States.
At the same time, the administration has introduced expanded new legal pathways in the United States
Up to 30,000 people per month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter a day through land crossings with Mexico if they get an appointment on an online application.
In shelters in northern Mexico, many migrants choose not to rush to the border and wait for current asylum appointments or hope to book one online.
At the Ágape Misión Mundial shelter in Tijuana, hundreds of migrants bided their time. Daisy Busia, 37, and her 15-year-old daughter arrived at the shelter more than three months ago from the Mexican state of Michoacán — fleeing death threats — and have an asylum appointment Saturday in California.
Busia read on social media that pandemic-era restrictions were ending at the US-Mexico border, but she preferred to cross with certainty later.
“What people want more than anything else is to overwhelm you,” Busia said.
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