This legislation allowed the government to quickly deport many people who crossed the border before they could claim asylum for more than three years.
The humanitarian crisis unfolded after tens of thousands of asylum seekers rushed to the United States before the Biden administration toughened immigration rules. According to observers, in recent days the flow of migrants at the US-Mexico border has increased by at least 4 times, more than 10,000 people per day. According to Juan José Rodriguez Alvarado, director of the National Migration Institute of Tamaulipas, the Mexican town of Matamoros, located across the border from Texas Brownsville, was inundated with Venezuelans. The number of migrants crammed into ramshackle shelters, apartments and tents rose from 700 to more than 6,000 within days. “They thought when Section 42 was suspended, the US border would be open to them,” Rodriguez Alvarado said. But incoming migrants quickly realized that entry could only become more difficult. The Biden administration’s new policy requires asylum seekers to register for interviews using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app, which is plagued with computer issues, according to the newspaper. They can be deported if they have already passed through another country where they could seek asylum, such as Mexico. The deportees now face a five-year re-entry ban.
Rumors have reached some asylum seekers that migrants will be allowed to enter the United States much more easily after Section 42 is lifted on Thursday evening. Thousands of migrants crossed the Rio Grande, lined up at checkpoints, filled federal immigration processing centers and crowded the sidewalks of US border towns, reports The New York Times.
As the newspaper notes, the debate over the status of asylum seekers is hampering efforts to reach an immigration deal in Congress. Despite hopes from some Democrats and Republicans that the expiration of tough pandemic-era border rules will force a compromise, bipartisan talks have stalled. The fact is, say the experts, that the asylum applications were for people who fear persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. to seek protection in the United States. But in recent years, such justifications have increasingly become a tactic for migrants who have no other options to enter the United States and who know that it may be years before their case be considered and, if unfounded, rejected.
The number of asylum claims pending in immigration courts has more than sevenfold in the past decade, putting the issue at the center of debate in Congress, according to data analyzed by experts at the University Center of Syracuse. According to experts, the delay in the adoption of the document could further complicate efforts to conclude an agreement, especially since the situation at the border, in particular around the question of asylum, evolves faster than the members of Congress who draft the bills react to it.
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