The chaotic situation of immigration along the US Mexico border intensifies immigration | The United States | Situation

According to US media reports, over 10000 immigrants from Central America and other regions have flooded into the US Mexico border every day, with a total length of over 3100 kilometers. Numerous immigrants are trekking across rivers or crossing border walls across multiple sections of the US Mexico border. The immigration wave at the US Mexico border has intensified again, and the situation is constantly chaotic. The two parties in the United States have been criticizing each other on immigration issues, with Texas, Florida, and other states repeatedly transporting illegal immigrants to New York, Los Angeles, and other places in batches, and state officials constantly shifting blame. Analysts say that the unpredictable nature of US immigration policies is a direct cause of the wave of immigrants.

On May 11 this year, the United States government terminated the public health policy called "Article 42", and no longer authorized law enforcement personnel to rapidly expel cross-border migrants on the grounds of curbing the COVID-19. In the following period, a large number of immigrants crossed the border with Mexico in border towns such as Texas and California. The immigration wave has led to Texas border cities such as El Paso and Brownsville declaring a state of emergency, and detention facilities in cities such as New York and Chicago are also at full capacity. Former Governor of New York, Como, commented that the US federal government has failed to manage the border situation and has not developed appropriate plans to accommodate a large influx of immigrants, exacerbating the immigration crisis. "The immigration wave is causing paralysis in New York City and other American city centers."

The US government has introduced some new policies and regulations to address the issue of illegal border crossing. Immigrants must first apply for asylum in their country of transit and be denied before attempting to apply in the United States. In fact, the US government will also largely prohibit immigrants who travel through other countries to the US Mexico border from applying for asylum in the United States. US law enforcement officers can use the "accelerated deportation" procedure to expel these illegal cross-border immigrants and prohibit them from entering the United States for at least 5 years, and those who cross the border illegally may face serious charges. For families illegally crossing the border, the head of household will be forced to wear handcuffs and monitoring rings until the qualification review is completed. The US government has also dispatched about 1500 additional National Guard members to the US Mexico border, while taking a series of measures such as recruiting more contract personnel, establishing new detention facilities, and increasing deportation flights.

According to relevant data, since the implementation of Article 42 in March 2020, US law enforcement officers have expelled approximately 2.8 million illegal immigrants under this pretext. However, in reality, a large number of deported immigrants remain on the Mexican side for a long time and repeatedly cross the border, with immigration waves occurring every year. With the termination of Article 42, a large number of immigrants have once again gathered at the US Mexico border to take their chances. At present, Mexico receives up to 1000 deported immigrants from the United States every day, and shelters in northern border cities such as Tijuana, Juarez City, and Matamoros are overcrowded. Many immigration shelters have a capacity far exceeding their normal capacity. The Secretary General of Baja California, Mexico, Catalino Savala, stated that there are already 42 immigration shelters in the state, but due to the increasing number of arrivals, the state plans to add two more in Tijuana.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently issued a statement expressing concern about the pressure faced by non-profit shelters for refugees and immigrants in southern Mexico and Mexico City. The statement states that some immigrants in shelters have been expelled from the United States, but there is no information about their legal procedures, Mexico lacks reception capacity, and their legal or immigration status is uncertain. Melissa Viz, a staff member of the Mexican Non Governmental Immigration Policy Working Group, admitted, "The United States will shift responsibility towards immigrants to Mexico, but the Mexican government has no conditions to allow all immigrants to stay."

Guadalupe Correa Cabrera, a professor at the School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in the United States, said that the US government has implemented multiple policy measures on immigration issues, but they do not address the symptoms or root causes. Many policy measures are also contradictory and conflicting, and cannot fundamentally eliminate the problem of immigration caused by poverty and violence. In the future, more immigrants will choose to go to the United States through smuggling or dangerous routes. According to data from the US Border Patrol, since 1998, more than 8000 immigrants have died on the US Mexico border, but the true number is far underestimated.