The United States is preparing for the end of Title 42, a health rule established by former President Donald Trump and maintained by the current government, which has so far allowed the expulsion of most people who cross the southern border. Joe Biden’s government is having to abide by an order from a Washington DC federal judge, who ordered the regulations rolled back in mid-November, which he called “arbitrary and capricious.”
The end of this rule, which has blocked most asylum requests at the border, should lead to an increase in the number of people arriving in the southern United States hoping to seek refuge in the country. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already outlined the strategy it will follow to deal with a greater arrival of migrants, but has ensured that the US system “is not designed” to deal with the current flow of migrants.
The mayor of New York, Eric Adamsthis Sunday he asked the federal authorities for help in view of what he expects, will be a massive arrival of asylum seekers in the city as a consequence of the end of that anti-immigration policy. According to Adams, the Big Apple is preparing to receive “from today” a large number of buses from the border, and so every week more than a thousand asylum seekers arrive in the city than usual.
Tens of thousands of people have ended up in this situation in New York this year, mostly Venezuelans, many of them sent on chartered buses from Texas by the government of Republican Greg Abbott, who opted for this measure to spread the burdens and criticize the immigration policies laws of the Joe Biden administration.
“We have already welcomed more than 31,000 asylum seekers in our city and currently have 60 emergency shelters open., four humanitarian support centers and two reception centres. We have put thousands of children in schools and spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to clothe, feed, house and support this population in great need,” Adams said in a statement.
According to the mayor, now New York needs “urgent help” from state and federal authoritieswhich he accused of having “largely ignored” the calls for support made so far. “Our foster care system is full and we are almost out of money, staff and space”insisted the Democratic politician, who asked Washington for possible plans to transfer asylum seekers to other cities, allow them to work and “send aid to the cities that have borne the brunt of this crisis”.
State of emergency in Denver
The mayor of New York is not the only one concerned about the massive arrival of migrants, given that his contemporary from Denver has also joined in the last few hours, Michael Hancockdeclaring the state of emergency in the Colorado state capital. “Cities across the country are being faced with something we’re not equipped to handle,” lamented Hancock.
The Democrat said he anticipated the measure Thursday, before it turns within days into a new humanitarian crisis that begins to be felt on the US border with Mexico, where the arrivals of migrant families, many of which from Venezuela and Nicaragua. “It’s at a crisis point right now,” stressed Hancock, who said the city didn’t collapse thanks to the help of churches and humanitarian organizations.
The mayor of Denver stressed that 40 to 170 people will hit Denver each night in an avalanche that he said he doesn’t know when it will stop. Many of them have come to the city on their own or with the help of organizations and don’t know what they will do or where to go. They are part of the mass migration that is taking place in El Paso, Texas, where about 1,500 migrants arrived by caravan on Sunday.
Mario D’Agostino, deputy municipal manager of El Paso, indicated that city could see up to 5,000 immigrant detentions a day. when next Wednesday the order of a judge who has been immediately expelling migrants at the border since 2020 will be revoked. These families, who have had to sleep on the streets or in El Paso’s bus and air terminals, are starting to move to other cities like Denver and Dallas, and further afield, including Chicago and New York.
without even a shower
Hundreds of these migrants who arrived in Denver on Friday asked local authorities and the community for help on their social networks and in the media to find housing and work in this city, after the initial help they had received had dried up. Although the municipality has opened two temporary shelters and the collaboration of various religious or non-profit organizations, many of the newly arrived families lack basic necessities such as winter clothing or an adequate place to wash.
“Additional capacity is needed to ensure basic needs are met and the city does not experience a humanitarian crisis for holding hundreds of homeless migrants displaced in our city,” the mayor of Denver stressed. They specifically asked residents to donate new underwear, long sleeve shirts, pants, socks, sweatshirts, closed-toe sneakers, and most importantly, winter coats.
The urge to get your winter gear comes as a cold front is predicted to hit Colorado within a week, unleashing the first major snowstorm of the season and dropping temperatures below freezing. The local mayor’s office estimates that it has so far allocated about $800,000 in emergency funds to help about 900 immigrants, most of them from Venezuela. Hancock also asked the federal government for help in continuing to assist them.
The White House calls on Congress to act
The White House asks the US Congress to “act” and approve the reform proposed by President Biden to “modernize the immigration system” which he considers “dismantled” by his predecessor Trump. The White House spokeswoman expressed it at a press conference, Karine Jean-Pierreas the government prepares to revoke Title 42.
“We need Congress to act. It is important that they give us the resources we have requested for border security and management”Jean-Pierre said. The press secretary recalled that since “day one” Biden had sent Congress an immigration reform proposal to “protect” the so-called “dreamers”, undocumented migrants who arrived in the United States as children, and to “modernize the asylum system” that was “dismantled” by the previous administration.
Although this reform was not approved, Jean-Pierre claimed the government’s efforts to address the migration crisis and recalled that the country has the largest number of border security agents, around 23,000. A federal judge ordered Title 42 revoked by Dec. 21set up in 2020 to expressly expel migrants under the pretext of the pandemic.
The Biden administration has warned migrants not to attempt to cross the border into Mexico irregularly because they will still be deported despite the revocation of Title 42. Jean-Pierre said the White House would share more details this week about what that will look like. federal government policy after this uprising.
