President Joe Biden advises migrants planning to come to the United States to stay at home. But since Donald Trump left the White House, the number of migrants arriving across the border into Mexico has been on the rise. Is a new policy crisis threatening Biden here?
Biden has a more generous migration policy than his predecessor Trump. This increases the number of migrants who want to cross the border from Mexico. The total number is now greater than at the same time in the past three years and growing faster. This also applies to the number of unaccompanied children: in January and February about fifteen thousand children were detained without parents. Last year there were a total of 37,000.
Officially, the Biden government is not advising migrants to come to the United States. Families and individuals, with the exception of unaccompanied children, can be returned. That happens according to the news agency Reuters in about 15 percent of cases.
At the same time, the US border police released thousands of families to make room in the detention centers in recent weeks. They are awaiting their hearing, but have not been given a set date by which to report to the immigration court. Also last weekend, a $ 86 million contract was announced to house migrant families in hotels while they await trial. The plan is an alternative to federal detention centers.
Contradictory border policies lead to confusion and criticism
The contradiction in Biden’s border policy leads to confusion among migrants. Republican criticisms that the policy is sending mixed signals and encouraging more people to cross the border, while border facilities are overcrowded amid the pandemic.
Former President Donald Trump took a whirl when footage emerged of detention centers near the border with Mexico, where children were in metal cages and slept under foil blankets. President Biden promised to improve. But on Monday, March 22, the first images appeared from a detention center since Trump’s departure, showing a similar situation. The photos were taken by Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar from Texas; journalists are not admitted.
“More needs to be done to address this growing humanitarian crisis. These migrant children need our help now. Not later,” Cuellar wrote on Twitter on Monday.
When it comes to migrant families, there is “a lot of confusion because there is no set rule,” Charlene D’Cruz, director of a border rights program, told news agency Reuters. “It seems ad hoc.”
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