Biden’s border policy confuses the border with Mexico | NOW

President Joe Biden advises migrants who are considering coming to the United States to stay at home. But since Donald Trump left the White House, the number of migrants arriving across the Mexican border has been on the rise. Is a new political crisis threatening Biden here?

Biden has a more generous migration policy than his predecessor Trump. This increases the number of migrants who wish to cross the border from Mexico. The total number is now greater than at the same time in the past three years and is growing faster. This also applies to the number of unaccompanied children: in January and February, around fifteen thousand children were detained without parents. Last year there were 37,000 in total.

Officially, the Biden government does not advise migrants to come to the United States. Families and individuals, with the exception of unaccompanied children, may be returned. This is happening according to the press agency Reuters in about 15 percent of cases.

At the same time, US border police have freed thousands of families to make room in detention centers in recent weeks. They are awaiting their hearing, but have not been given a set date to appear in immigration court. Also last weekend, an $ 86 million contract was announced to house migrant families in hotels while awaiting trial. The plan is an alternative to federal detention centers.

Conflicting border policies lead to confusion and criticism

The contradiction in Biden’s border policy leads to confusion among migrants. Republican criticism 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 whirlwind when images emerged from detention centers near the border with Mexico, where children were kept in wire cages and slept under aluminum blankets. President Biden has promised to improve. But on Monday, March 22, the first images of a detention center emerged since Trump left, showing a similar situation. The photos were taken by Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas; journalists are not admitted.

“More needs to be done to deal with this growing humanitarian crisis. These migrant children need our help now. Not later,” Cuellar wrote on Twitter Monday.

When it comes to migrant families, there is “a lot of confusion because there is no fixed rule,” Charlene D’Cruz, director of a program on migrants, told the news agency. border rights. Reuters. “It seems ad hoc.”