the The US health agency CDC will abolish a rule that will allow most migrants who have entered the country illegally to be quickly deported because of the corona pandemic. The regulation will be ended effective May 23 to give the Department of Homeland Security enough time to take necessary measures such as expanding corona vaccinations for migrants and refugees, the authority said on Friday. Most recently, around 85,000 people were deported every month as a result of the regulation, according to data from the CBP border police.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said single migrants and families on the US southern border with Mexico would continue to be deported through the May deadline. After that, the usual rules would apply again. “Let me be clear: Those who do not have the legal basis to stay in the United States will be deported,” Mayorkas said. In view of the expected higher number of arriving migrants, border police personnel and resources are already being increased. This should also make it possible to process the examinations of asylum applications more quickly, it said.
In the fiscal year 2021 there was at the US southern border more than 1.7 million registered illegal border crossings – including people who tried again after being deported from the USA. The number of incoming migrants remains close to historic highs. For February, the border police reported 165,000 illegal border crossings. Experts assume that the number is now likely to rise again.
US President Joe Biden’s government should therefore come under even more pressure – and that before the important congressional elections in November. Republicans blame Democrat Biden for triggering a crisis on the southern border with his more liberal policies.
The CDC regulation was put into effect under then-President Donald Trump at the beginning of the pandemic and was used to largely seal off the borders. Under Biden, the rule was extended except for unaccompanied minors. Human rights organizations have accused the government of using the pandemic as a pretext for blanket deportation without adequate scrutiny and judicial hearings.
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