Anne Toulouse with AFP / Photo credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
The United States is preparing to lift immigration restrictions linked to Covid-19. An event awaited by thousands of people wishing to cross the border. The American administration expects a continuous influx of migrants, and mobilizes 24,000 federal agents to monitor its border with its Mexican neighbor.
It is an unprecedented migratory wave that could arrive in the United States. The country of Uncle Sam is preparing to lift this Thursday evening the measure entitled “Title 42”, supposed to limit the spread of Covid-19. The latter gave the American authorities the possibility of immediately turning back all migrants entering the country, including asylum seekers. In three years, it has been used 2.8 million times.
Reconfiguration of asylum applications
Faced with the dreaded influx of migrants, Washington mobilizes 24,000 federal agents to monitor its border with Mexico. Because in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked, thinking that the end of the restrictions imposed by the Covid would facilitate their entry. In reality, we return to the previous situation, where illegal entry led to expulsion and a ban on returning for several years.
The only change now is that instead of waiting in the United States for a judgment which could take months, asylum seekers will have to make a pre-application either on the Internet or in a center set up in a third country.
A human drama
Problem with these last-minute measures: the structures are not yet finalized and they come up against the reality of a 3,000 km long border, where 10,000 people were apprehended on Tuesday alone.
At one of the main crossing points, El Paso, Texas, hundreds of migrants are pouring in every day and sleeping rough. The situation is even worse on the Mexican side, in Ciudad Juarez, where several tens of thousands of people are piled up in a real refugee camp.