Numbers of Migrants have reached High Levels since Last 2 Decades

Listen to this article

On Thursday, the Secretary of US Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas powerfully defended the strategy of the Biden administration for dealing with migration to the US-Mexico border. The numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers have reached levels not seen in over 2 decades. Mayorkas said the administration is enhancing enforcement efforts to deter economic migrants from attempting to enter the US without legal permission. However, the authorities are gradually expanding access to the US asylum system for those fleeing violence. Mayorkas said, “It is critical that intending migrants understand clearly that they will be turned back if they enter the United States illegally and do not have a basis for relief under our laws. “The unprecedented number” of border crossings poses a serious challenge”.

Recent data shows the CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) carried out more than 212 thousand migrant apprehensions in July, a 21-year high. At least 110 thousand single adult migrants were taken into custody and most of them were expelled to Mexico under a public health authority. However, 88% of at least 83 thousand migrant parents and children taken into custody as families in July were processed under US immigration law and allowed to seek asylum. US border officials also encountered an all-time high of 19 thousand unaccompanied children. The incoming chief of the US Border Patrol, Raul Ortiz said, “It is a big number. I have a huge flow of migrants coming across here in south Texas. I have the same thing two or three hundred miles up the river in Del Rio, Texas”.

Ortiz added, “And then I have the same thing occurring in Yuma, Arizona. It really has forced us to rethink how we do business”. Mayorkas attributed the rise in migration to violence, poverty, and corruption in Central America. He said, “Young boys whose lives are threatened if they decline to join a gang. Young women are vulnerable to rape while they walk to school”. Mayorkas said the spike in border apprehensions was also fueled by the resurgent US economy and the Biden administration’s reversal of several Trump-era policies. He said, “Another reason is the end of the cruel policies of the past administration and the restoration of the rule of laws of this country that Congress has passed, including our asylum laws that provide humanitarian relief”.