The number of migrants along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border is increasing as they await what they hope will be dramatic liberalizations in border security and immigration policy from President Biden – who have already taken significant steps to reverse Trump-era policies.
California Border Patrol agents in Texas told Fox News that they are seeing a steady increase in seizures, especially among Central American families and unaccompanied children in their sectors – specifically in the Rio Grande Valley and Tucson, Arizona.
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A Texas agent told Fox News that in three of the past seven days, there have been at least 800 arrests in his sector, up from about 450 a day just a few months ago. In the meantime, they found two groups of more than 100 migrants approaching the border. The agent said the last time they saw this was in January 2019.
Reuters reported on an improvised camp in the border town of Matamoros, across the river from Brownsville, Texas, which has been expanding in numbers recently
“It has grown because people think that if you are in the countryside, you can enter (the United States) first,” said a Honduran asylum seeker to the agency.
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Biden made big promises during the 2020 immigration campaign and has acted fast so far to act on them – although not quickly or drastically enough for some migrants and migrant activists.
So far, it has reversed Trump-era travel bans, halted the construction of the southern border wall, and reinforced protections for recipients of the Deferred Action for Arrivals in Childhood (DACA) – the 2012 executive order that protected illegal immigrants who came to the US as deportation children.
The Biden administration has also proposed a huge immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. The government also tried to impose a moratorium on most deportations – but that is currently subject to legal challenge from Texas.
“President Biden’s strategy is centered on the basic premise that our country is safe, stronger and more prosperous, with a safe, orderly and humane immigration system that welcomes immigrants, holds families together and allows newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations to contribute more fully to our country, “said a senior government official in a conference call with reporters.
On Tuesday, Biden is expected to sign a series of executive orders, including the creation of a task force to bring together the separated at the border during the Trump administration, as well as the review of asylum policies – including a review of the Protocols of Protection to the Migrant (MPP).
The MPP, known as “Staying in Mexico”, involves migrants being held in Mexico while awaiting their immigration hearings, instead of being released to the interior. Trump administration officials have repeatedly warned of an increase in the border if the policy were terminated, arguing that it would be the key to ending the attraction factors that attract migrants to the north.
Biden called the policy cruel and promised to end it on the “first day”, but officials later warned that such a move would take time. Tuesday’s order appears to be the first step in that process.
Border officials told Fox News that smugglers are using Biden’s promises to restart asylum, legalize illegal immigrants and prevent immigration and customs enforcement to encourage migrants to make the trip. In addition, the Title 42 public health order, promulgated under the Trump administration and which allows adult migrants to be quickly returned home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is creating a backup across the border.
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Former Trump officials are warning that measures like ending the MPP will lead to a new wave of migrants on the border, similar to that seen in 2019.
“With another stroke of a pen, Biden is doubling his open border strategies, encouraging illegal migration and creating the next crisis to reach our borders,” former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told Fox News . “Two weeks after this new administration, our borders are less secure, our country is less secure and the mission of our frontline personnel has become more dangerous.”
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Meanwhile, groups of migrants, both at home and abroad, are pressing Biden to move more quickly on immigration – even though he faces significant Republican opposition at home to his first moves. A caravan of migrants who left for the U.S. border last month told Biden that he hopes his government will honor its “commitments” to them.
Fox News is told that many parents are sending children under the age of 17 and therefore cannot be deported, and so are jumping over the border fence elsewhere, in the hope of reuniting later.
Furthermore, as there are no processes, there are no consequences and, therefore, there is no impediment.
Griff Jenkins of Fox News contributed to this report.