White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned on Wednesday that the changes will take time.
“Now is not the time to come,” said Psaki, citing the pandemic and continued efforts to implement a comprehensive process. “The vast majority of people will be rejected. Asylum processes at the border will not take place immediately, they will take time to be implemented.”
In the meantime, there is little clarity about what happens next, leaving space for smugglers to convey their messages.
“Misinformation on the part of smugglers is a problem. They are salespeople,” said John Sandweg, a former senior Homeland Security official in the Obama administration. “The longer these people sit where they are in this purgatory, the more likely they are to be attracted to coyotes to meet,” he added, referring to smugglers who are also sometimes called “coyotes. “
Rumors take over
“The rumors are weakening morale both (lawyers) and migrants,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer who represents clients forced to stay in Mexico.
It is common for smugglers to lie to migrants to sell their services, but years of Trump policies that left thousands of people waiting on the southern border of the U.S. have resulted in networks that operate just miles from the United States, according to Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor associate at George Mason University, which studies migrant smuggling networks. This poses an urgent challenge for the Biden government.
“More and more, now you see specialized networks of smuggling of migrants operating on the border,” said Correa-Cabrera.
Under the Trump administration, migrants from Central America and other parts of the world seeking asylum on the U.S.-Mexico border were forced to remain in Mexico until the United States immigration court hearings. Many remained along the border, where they would have to appear at their court hearings.
There are also migrants along the border who have been repelled by a public health order instituted by Trump that allows for the quick expulsion of migrants as well as newcomers, creating a tenuous situation along the border. Migrants can be easily identified based on their accents or dress and, as a result, become victims of gangs and corrupt officials, among others.
With the change in administrations, the hope arose that people who waited months, if not years, could apply for asylum in the United States and be allowed to enter.
During the transition between administrations, officials acknowledged that migrants’ expectations of the Biden administration were vulnerable to being shaped by smugglers, according to a source familiar with the discussions. “The statement that Susan (Rice) and Jake (Sullivan) made in December reflects the knowledge that human smuggling networks would attack people,” said the source.
‘They can literally see the United States’
As the government sets out lawsuits, people across the border with the United States are desperate.
“We are not looking at people in Latin America, South America, who think that now is the time to migrate. These are people who are already there, ”said Taylor Levy, a California immigration lawyer who works with migrants along the southern border. “They are so close that they can literally see the United States.”
“I cannot explain why, how or what are the next steps. It’s getting to the point where people are very frustrated with you, ”said Levy, adding that smugglers are exploiting the frustration that migrants are feeling.
Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that some migrants will be prosecuted for removal in the U.S.
“According to long-standing practice, when long-term retention solutions are not possible, some migrants will be sued for removal, will receive an Attendance Notice and will be released in the U.S. to await a future immigration hearing,” says the statement. “As the administration looks at the current immigration process, balancing it with the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to use all current authorities to avoid keeping individuals in a congregated environment for any period of time.”
The Biden government has tried to moderate expectations about how quickly they can reverse the policies of the previous government, but it can also work against them. In some cases, smugglers will offer their services as a faster way to get to the US instead of waiting, according to Correa-Cabrera.
“People are not doing this because they think the border will open up for them, but because of the expectation that, once there, they will be treated with more respect,” said Correa-Cabrera.
Meanwhile, lawyers and immigrant lawyers are trying to strike a delicate balance between offering hope and, at the same time, asking for patience.
“The question here is until they find out what the right strategy is, that the void will be filled by others,” said Jennifer Quigley, refugee defense director at Human Rights First.