Now Biden fears chaotic conditions at the border

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The United States is preparing for an onslaught of migrants and asylum seekers at its border with Mexico as a controversial corona deportation scheme expires. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (63) on Wednesday warned of “potentially very difficult challenges” with the end of the ordinance known as Title 42 on Friday night. US President Joe Biden, 80, said the situation on the southern border “will be chaotic for a while”.

The US government has deployed 24,000 border guards and mobilized an additional 1,500 troops in addition to the 2,500 troops already deployed at the border to provide support. She also tightened asylum rules to have a deterrent effect against illegal border crossings.

Trump’s Corona regulation expires

The reason for this is the expiration of Title 42 on Thursday night at 11:59 PM US East Coast time (5:59 PM Swiss time on Friday). The regulation introduced in March 2020 at the start of the corona pandemic under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump (76) stipulates that migrants who are apprehended at the border with Mexico can be immediately sent away. This was justified with the fight against the coronavirus. Critics say the pandemic was just an excuse to enforce strict border policies.

The eviction scheme now ends at the same time as the end of the national corona crisis in the US on Friday evening. But that doesn’t mean “our border is open,” Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas said Wednesday. “Smugglers have long worked hard to spread the misinformation that the border will open after May 11. It won’t be like that. They lie.”

The minister said the government is working on ways to legally enter the United States, while at the same time seeking “harsh consequences for those who decide not to follow those avenues.” Under a new regulation, people must lose their right to asylum and be deported if they enter the US illegally. Among other things, there should be exceptions if people are threatened with torture in their home country.

State of emergency in the cities of Texas

With the end of Title 42, the Biden administration is essentially relying on an older set of rules known as Title 8, which has been applied in parallel to Title 42 in recent years. In some places this is stricter than the Corona rules and includes fines for attempts to cross the border illegally.

Tens of thousands of people are currently gathering at the border crossings. In the US state of Texas, which borders Mexico, the cities of El Paso, Brownsville and Laredo have declared a state of emergency. Hundreds of people from Central American countries and South American countries such as Venezuela and Colombia are already living there.

When asked on Tuesday whether the United States was prepared for an attack by people on the border, Biden said, “It remains to be seen. It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”

Thin ice for Biden

For the president, the crisis on the border with Mexico is highly politically sensitive – and border policy is a difficult balancing act. Opposition Republicans accuse Democrats of allowing hundreds of thousands of foreigners into the country unhindered, fueling fears of an increase in crime and drug problems.

A group of Republican senators on Wednesday accused the administration of underestimating “the crisis at our border.” You will only realize “at the last moment” that the end of Title 42 will have “devastating consequences for the security of our nation”.

At the same time, Biden is under pressure from his party’s left wing. There, the president is accused of not fulfilling his election promise of a more humane refugee and immigration policy. (AFP/Baby)

Source: Blick