The number of families illegally crossing the US border has broken records

The number of people detained trying to cross the Mexican border with family members into the U.S. reached the highest number on record in a month in August. This population group included at least 91 thousand immigrants, which exceeded the 84.4 thousand in May 2019 during the administration of Donald Trump.

The total number of immigrants detained at the border this month exceeded 177,000, a 30% increase compared to July with 132,600 detainees. These represent an increase of around 30% compared to June, when 99,500 people sought this route and were stopped by authorities and Border Patrol agents.

Beyond adults, accompanying families have become the most arrested group since the start of Joe Biden’s administration. Democrats campaigned and took office promising a more humane approach to immigration; However, in practice, it maintained some of the rules imposed by Trump, his predecessor and opponent.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Republican administration created the so-called Title 42, which allowed immigrants to be deported before they could claim asylum, if the entry of these individuals would pose a health risk to the country.

The rule was repealed in May of this year, largely without opposition from Republican states seeking justice against the regulatory decision, but the Biden administration created new rules that make it harder for people in irregular situations to enter.

Under the current rule, any immigrant who attempts to enter the country irregularly – that is, without the necessary documents and outside the official channels and channels available to file an application for entry – is automatically considered ineligible for asylum. An immigrant in these situations must prove that he sought asylum in another country and that these claims were denied before crossing the US border.

According to Erin Heiter, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the government is trying to slow so-called illegal entries and expand options accepted by the courts. “However, every year, the United States sees seasonal ebbs and flows of migrants and human traffickers who use misinformation to encourage cross-border movement,” Heiter says.

The government also increased the number of flights to deport families in August, the spokesman says, adding that it has returned more than 17,000 parents and children who crossed the border in family groups since May.

The issue has been a central part of election campaigns since Trump ran for office with a bold promise to build a border wall, and it has particularly strong appeal among Republican voters.

“When Biden came in and scrapped all of Trump’s policies and rolled out the welcome mat around the world that the border was open, all of a sudden chaos erupted,” the Texas governor said of the large increase in the flow of immigrants in recent years.

Joe Biden did not attend the first debate for the nomination of the Republican Party for the vacancy in the presidential election against Trump – this proves the relevance of the substance and at the same time determination among Republicans.

There was consensus among candidates before tightening immigration policies. Vivek Ramaswani, the son of Indian immigrants and a key figure in the debate, has the phrase “an open border is not a border” as one of his campaign slogans.

September 2, 2023 07:01