A migrant traveling with a caravan that left Honduras on Friday told a reporter that he was going to the USA because future President Joe Biden is “giving us 100 days to get to the USA”
The migrant, seen in an interview shared by The Hill, did not give his name, but said he was from Roatán, a tourist island off the north coast of Honduras.
He appeared to be citing Biden’s promise to put a 100-day moratorium on deportations – one of several items on his agenda that will reverse some of President Donald Trump’s signature policies.
The migrant told a reporter that he was fleeing a “bad situation” that was made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, hurricanes and a president who is not helping the people.
When asked what he wanted for “his people”, the migrant said it was “to reach the United States because they would have a new president”.
“He will help us all,” said the migrant about President-elect Joe Biden. “He is giving us 100 days to reach the United States” to obtain legal status and “to obtain a better life for our children and family”.
Biden promised a path to legal permanent residence for those in the country illegally and a suspension of deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Honduran immigrants, at the top, stand among cargo trucks as they face Guatemalan soldiers and police officers who prevent them from moving towards the USA, on the highway in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, Monday, January 18, 2021.
(AP)
But any migrant who arrives at the border of the United States in the first 100 days of the new Biden government is likely to be disappointed. On Sunday, an unidentified Biden transition official said that migrants who hope to apply for asylum in the United States during the first weeks of the government “need to understand that they will not be able to enter the United States immediately,” NBC News reported.
The Biden transition official told NBC News that although “help is on the way,” now “is not the time to make the journey”.
“I said that if Biden became president, it would happen,” Thomas Homan, former ICE acting director, told Fox News. “The things he said, the promises he made … how to end the stay program in Mexico and get rid of private detention, put a moratorium on deportations, prevent ICE from carrying out inspection operations in the workplace, offer free medical assistance. When you play these types of seductions, who will not come to the greatest country on Earth? ”
“I have informed the White House numerous times about what is causing the outbreaks. So he knew that, by throwing away all those promises, to meet the left to win an election, he was putting his own political ambitions ahead of the country.”
Asked what he thought about Biden’s transition officer telling migrants that now is not the best time to come to the United States, Homan said, “Very little, very late.”
“They are already on their way. They will not wait in Mexico. They will try to cross the border,” said Homan. “Sooner or later, even if they meet in Mexico City, (Biden) will open the floodgates.”
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Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a migrant rights group, issued a statement on behalf of the caravan, saying it expects the Biden government to take action.
The group is due to hold a virtual press conference in Tijuana on Tuesday afternoon, where they will call on the new government to reverse President Trump’s policies and immediately allow asylum seekers to continue the asylum process in the U.S.
In a statement released on Monday, the group attacked Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” policy, which forces migrants seeking asylum in the United States to wait in Mexico while their case is being considered.
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Pueblo Sin Fronteras said at Tuesday’s press conference that he will launch a petition for the Biden government. Items on the list include the requirement that the border of the United States be open to asylum seekers, the elimination of the policy of staying in Mexico, the end of the separation of migrant families and the “guarantee” of legal representation for petitioners. asylum.
Yael Halon of Fox News contributed to this report.