Washington (EFE).- As of this Thursday, the border between the United States and Mexico closes a chapter and enters a new era: Title 42, a health regulation imposed by the Donald Trump government (2017-2021) that hot expulsions with the excuse of the pandemic, comes to an end.
To replace it and with the intention of stopping what is expected to be a considerable increase in land migration, the Joe Biden Administration has implemented a series of measures that restrict access to asylum at the border, which, according to experts and activists, are similar to the policies promoted by Trump that the Democrat promised to repeal during his election campaign.
These are the keys to understanding the regulations that will govern the border between the US and Mexico. And the impact that Title 42 has left.
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a health regulation, imposed during the Trump administration, that allows the expulsions of migrants at the border. Under the Republican government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this regulation shortly after the national emergency was declared for covid-19.
Thus, under the pretext of the pandemic, Title 42 has allowed the restriction of the entry of migrants through the southern border. And the expulsion to Mexico of people of certain nationalities after crossing the border irregularly, without the possibility of requesting asylum.
Under this rule, the US has carried out more than 2.5 million expulsions in all this time, according to data from the International Rescue Committee organization.
The use of Title 42 has been widely criticized by organizations in defense of human rights. They assure that it is a violation of international law, since it prohibits people who need protection from requesting asylum in the US.
In turn, the subject of several lawsuits, both asking that it be withdrawn and that it be maintained. However, the end of Title 42 comes hand in hand with the lifting of the national emergency due to the pandemic on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. local time.
How would the border work from now on?
By eliminating Title 42, it was expected that the usual rules would be applied again to review asylum cases, which by law must be requested on US soil.
However, the Biden government has decided to implement a new rule. That restricts access to asylum for people seeking to reach the US by land.
The regulation, which was published in the federal register, qualifies migrants who cross the border irregularly as “unfit” to request asylum. And that they have not requested protection in a third country during their journey to the US.
The main legal route to request asylum in the US available to people arriving at the border will be through the CBP One mobile application, which allows immigrants to make appointments with the authorities to present their cases.
A thousand appointments a day after the end of Title 42
The North American country will offer some 1,000 daily appointments to request asylum through this procedure. A figure that, according to public officials, may increase “depending on the capacity” of the migration service workers.
Those who do not take advantage of this process and decide to cross the border irregularly will be declared ineligible to request asylum in the US, unless they have previously been denied in a third country or demonstrate technological or language barriers to access the application.
To implement these measures, the Biden Executive has decided to increase the staff of immigration agencies, with more than 24,000 officials, and deploy 1,500 soldiers on the border.
In turn, the US has increased the number of deportation flights to countries in the region and has also reached an agreement with Mexico so that the neighboring country receives up to 30,000 deported migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba per month. .
What consequences will the new reality have on the border?
Migration and human rights experts have strongly criticized the measures taken by the Democratic government. Assuring that they are a continuation of Trump’s policies and alert that they will expose migrants to situations of greater risk.
The new policies “will fuel human trafficking, enrich the cartels” and cause even more deaths at the border as people will be forced to head for “more dangerous border crossings,” Ari Sawyer, who investigates the border, told EFE. for the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The measures, in addition, “will result in a violation of the US legal obligation not to return refugees to situations of persecution or torture,” Sawyer said.
For his part, the director of Asylum Policy of the International Rescue Committee, Kennji Kizuka, points out that the situation of people deported to northern Mexico is particularly worrying.
“Humanitarian needs in northern Mexico are likely to increase as services, including shelters, are at capacity in many places,” Kizuka stressed.
The Biden Administration, the expert assured, has the opportunity to “restore access to asylum at the border.” “The use of a defective and inaccessible mobile application should not be a requirement to exercise the right to asylum,” he stated.