Central American migrants pour into Mexican processing center
Thousands of asylum seekers were lined up just north of the Guatemalan border in Tapachula, Mexico, Tuesday as they attempt to claim refuge — while government officials have warned that some 80,000 others from Central America are following close behind.
The hordes of migrants photographed by The Post were in Tapachula to acquire visas that would allow them to stay in Mexico for 45 days.
Many are believed to be planning to head north toward the US — where pandemic-era policy Title 42 is ending Thursday — as their ultimate destination, but Mexican authorities impose restrictions on where they can travel.
Some 60,000 have been stranded at the Tapachula processing center and over 444,000 migrants were detained in Mexico last year, a report from Diario De Mexico reported in September.
The camp is full of stranded migrants who risk deportation if they leave and had been described as “truly horrifying” by Human Rights Watch, according to a report in the Nation.
The Tapachula Center — and others like it — are likely to be a key part of the new immigration system the Biden administration is preparing to put in place when Title 42 ends.
Another 80,000 migrants are reportedly making their way through Guatemala, government sources said Tuesday, as the pandemic emergency order — which has been used to expel 2.8 million migrants over the past three years — is set to end.
The Biden administration recently announced steps to mitigate the expected “chaotic” influx of up to 13,000 migrants a day when Title 42 expires.
The White House has deployed 1,500 troops to the southern US border to perform administrative tasks and is opening processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia where potential migrants can apply for refugee status or a worker program.
“We’ve gotten overwhelming cooperation from Mexico. We also are in the process of setting up offices in Colombia and other places where you could — or someone seeking asylum can go first. So, it remains to be seen. It’s going to be chaotic for a while,” President Biden said Tuesday.
The US has also said it will process people fleeing violence and persecution at the southern border more rapidly, send those who don’t pass an initial screening back to their homelands, and bar them from entering the US for at least five years.
What is Title 42 and what does its end mean for US border immigration?
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a federal health measure enforced by the US Border Patrol. It allows the agency to kick certain migrants out of the US and return them to Mexico. This includes asylum seekers, who under international law have the legal right to make an asylum claim in America.
Currently, migrants who cross the border illegally who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua or Venezuela are subject to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
How did Title 42 start?
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue the policy. The Trump administration made the case that keeping migrants out of the country would slow down the spread of infections and maintain the safety of federal agents encountering migrants.
What has happened with Title 42 under Biden?
When President Biden took over, he continued to enforce Title 42 with one important change from his predecessor. Biden said Border Patrol agents were only allowed to expel migrants from certain countries under his direction. That meant migrants seeking asylum from countries like Cuba and Venezuela could still seek asylum if they arrived at the border and stay in the US while their cases were decided in court — unless they had a criminal record.
What is happening with Title 42 now?
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy, not an immigration law. It will end at 11:59 p.m. May 11, when the Biden administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Why is it controversial?
Many have called for the policy’s end, saying it’s illegal and that international law guarantees people the right to seek asylum.
Others, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, warn that the southern border could see up to 13,000 migrants per day crossing with the intention to stay in the country when the measure ends.
What would the end of Title 42 mean for immigration into the US?
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been expelled under Title 42 because there have been scores of people who have attempted to enter the country numerous times and been rejected again and again, but the US Border Patrol said it made an all-time high of more than 2.3 million arrests at the border in the last fiscal year. Forty percent of people who were expelled from the country were ejected under the rules of Title 42.
“Let me be clear, our border is not open and will not be open after May 11,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said late last month as he outlined the new measures.
Tens of thousands of migrants are camped along the Mexican side of the US border, waiting for Title 42 to end. Some 81,000 have attempted to legally cross the border over the past week and a half while another 26,000 snuck into the country by evading detection, according to Border Patrol officials.
United Nations groups have warned that some 400,000 migrants could attempt to cross into North America through the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama this year en route to the US.
The White House had committed to accepting 125,000 refugees in 2023 — but only allotted places for 15,000 people from Latin America and the Caribbean.
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