It took two years for Joe Biden to move to the border with Mexico. The American president finally corrected this restraint by going to El Paso (Texas) on Sunday, January 8. A very supervised visit, where the images had to be sufficient on their own.
It was a question of illustrating the renewed attention of the White House for the migration issue, a sensitive subject in public opinion, very popular with Republicans. Joe Biden has embarked on an intense streak on this issue, which began on January 5. On that day, the American president presented emergency measures, intended both to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country and to respond to accusations of laxity.
These measures aim to expand a system already adopted for Venezuelan nationals in October 2022, and which has proven itself in three months. From now on, the White House announced, up to 30,000 people from Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela will be able to come to the United States each month for a period of two years and receive a work permit, but at condition of being sponsored by an eligible person and after examination of their file. Those who attempt to cross without papers will be turned away.
Mexico has agreed to take in 30,000 people a month in the opposite direction, expelled from the United States and no longer able to claim refuge there for five years. On the material level, on the American side, the means of control will be reinforced and a mobile application launched to oblige migrants transiting through Mexico to register and make an appointment without flocking en masse to the border crossing points. The White House thus hopes that the illegal and lucrative networks of smugglers will dry up.
A complete deadlock in Congress on immigration
For a long time, Joe Biden neglected this migration issue, leaving it to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, and to the overwhelmed federal services concerned. This theme was one of the weaknesses of the Democrats during the midterms campaign last year. Especially since the number of arrests has exploded: 1.7 million in 2021, 2.4 million in 2022. The northward march of migrants is explained by various factors: climatic, economic, as well as the desire to flee. repressive regimes or crumbling states.
From the start of his presidency, Joe Biden found himself faced with a complete deadlock in Congress on immigration. Therefore, how to combine firmness and humanity, control of the border and right of asylum? How to avoid the cruel images of the Trump era, and the approximately 5,000 children separated from their parents, while preserving its renewal device, called “Title 42”?
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