The US Border Patrol made nearly 200,000 arrests for illegally entering the US-Mexico border in July, the highest monthly number since March 2000, exacerbating the crisis facing Joe Biden’s administration.
This type of detention generally increases during the summer months in the northern hemisphere (winter in Brazil) and, compared to June, the number of detentions has increased by more than 12%.
The Democratic administration is under pressure, with the largest flow to the Mexican border in 20 years. Significant numbers have been recorded month after month – from January to June, more than one million people were arrested trying to cross the border, a number that exceeds all annual estimates of detention recorded since 2005.
The scenario was described as unprecedented by the Secretary of Internal Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, during an interview on Thursday (12).
In Texas, he announced the expansion of an online application system, hoping immigrants will apply remotely rather than going to the border. The tool will allow registration by phone or computer.
“We are finding an unprecedented number of migrants between the entry points on our southern border,” Mayorkas said.
Earlier today, a group of South Texas elected officials to meet with the secretary criticized Biden’s treatment at the border, saying incoming immigrants were straining their communities during the pandemic.
“Any system they use is broken,” Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz, a Democrat, said of Biden’s approach. “This needs to be corrected. “
Biden, who during his presidential bid vowed to reverse steps taken by his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, has been timid about migration and has been criticized for it.
More than six months after taking office as president, the Democrat continues to use a Trump administration measure to deport immigrants during the coronavirus pandemic.
The policy known as Title 42, dated March 2020, facilitates the immediate deportation of people who attempt to enter the country in violation of travel restrictions or illegally, without allowing them to seek asylum.
The measure is cited as one of the reasons for the increase in arrests, as it would increase cases of people crossing the border multiple times in an attempt to escape capture. Since the rule talks about deportation – not deportation – migrants don’t even have the right to bring their cases to court, and most are sent back to Mexico within hours.
Another consequence of maintaining Title 42 has been the high number of unaccompanied children arriving in the United States. While the immediate deportation measure is used against families and adults, only minors are referred to temporary accommodation.
In a document earlier this month, David Shahoulian, deputy secretary for border policy and migration at the Department of Homeland Security, said about 19,000 unaccompanied children were found at the border in July.