Border crossings from Mexico to the United States were cut in half Abolition of Title 42 on Thursday Which allowed undocumented immigrants to return based on COVID-19 restrictions.
“Over the past two days, the Border Patrol has experienced 50% drop in the number of encounters Compared to what we were experiencing earlier in the week prior to the expiration of Title 42,” the Secretary of Homeland Security said, Alexander Mayorkas, as scheduled CNN “state of the Union”.
The border was “relatively quiet” this Friday and Saturday and the avalanche of migrants that officials feared after the lifting of Title 42 restrictions was not expected, the press reported.
However, according to Mayorkas, “it’s still too early” for a more sustained evaluation. “We’re on day three, but we’ve been planning this transformation for months and months.”
Some 6,300 migrants crossed the border into Mexico on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday, a “significantly lower” number than the 10,000 daily arrivals recorded earlier in the week.
This Friday the Secretary of National Security warned that migrants are at the border face dire consequences Including a “minimum five-year ban on re-entry and possible criminal prosecution” if they do not choose legal routes to enter the territory.
The Biden administration continues to urge the undocumented to use the platform to receive asylum appointments through the CBP One phone application and has maintained that the new system is designed to reduce unauthorized crossings.
Now, the United States practically prevents immigrants from applying for asylum in the country if they have not previously applied online or if they have not previously applied in the countries through which they travel.
Title 42 at the time of the pandemic made it possible to slow migrant flows at the southern border and expel about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants over three years. Although Cuban escapees managed to avoid stricter regulations due to humanitarian considerations and exceptions for asylum, a total of 20,093 Cubans were deported over the border under COVID-19 health restrictions.
The end of the regulations brought tighter rules, tighter controls and a doubling of the presence of immigration agents, police forces and military forces at the border.
The Government of Mexico, for its part, announced that will continue to accept returns, for humanitarian reasons, for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who are processed under Title 8 at the border. Those who are removed under this Title 8 will be barred from entry for five years and subject to possible criminal prosecution should they attempt to re-enter illegally.
