By EFE
02 Jul 2024, 15:35 PM EDT
Ciudad Juárez (Mexico), Jul 2 (EFE).- Shelters on Mexico’s northern border fear a new wave of migration two weeks after US President Joe Biden announced the regularization of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants married to Americans and their children.
Directors of these shelters told EFE on Tuesday that there will be consequences in Ciudad Juárez, the epicenter of the binational migration phenomenon, following the policy announced on June 18 to protect from deportation some 500,000 undocumented immigrants who are spouses of U.S. citizens who have been in the country for more than 10 years.
Pastor Francisco González, director of the Somos Uno por Juárez Shelter Network, said that people who have relatives who already have legal status in the United States are going to form new caravans to try to enter the country and take advantage of the benefit of this immigration regularization or wait for a new one.
“For those who are already there, it is good news, about 500,000 people will benefit. For them, it is good news. For those who are on this side, what this news can generate is that they believe that they will benefit later and more people will come,” he warned.
He explained that, in Mexico alone, there are many people who are going to risk coming to the border because they have relatives in the United States.
“People who live in Mexico have relatives from that side, some of whom we haven’t seen in 10 or 15 years because of their legal status, which is not yet regularized,” said the pastor.
A new wave after a migratory respite
The migratory flow is expected to pick up after the more than 40% drop reported last Wednesday by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in migrant arrests on its southern border since Biden signed the executive order on June 5 to restrict asylum and expedite deportations.
While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said last Thursday that migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen by more than 72% to 3,479 on June 25, from 12,498 on December 18, the highest point last year, thanks to the cooperation of his government.
Despite these declines, Pastor Gonzalez said that any news such as regularizing families opens up hope for migrants, but it also causes information to be distorted and many people to travel to the border with the intention of crossing, which is already filling the shelters.
“The shelter network has 503 people, we are at 50% of capacity, and part of it is the blockage (of asylum) because the people who were at the border are now looking for an appointment in the right way,” added the pastor.
He also commented that, “unfortunately, the appointment process is slow,” so “there are people who have already been waiting for three months.”
Renewed hopes
Although the measure announced by Biden does not benefit him, Honduran José Eduardo Ruelas is hopeful that new policies will emerge to reach the United States.
“It looks good for families to reunite, especially since they haven’t seen each other for a long time. I have my son who is 17 years old and I haven’t seen him for almost two years, he is there. And that is my wish right now, I want to travel there because I want to see him again,” said Ruelas from the binational border.
The Central American has been stranded in Ciudad Juárez for five months waiting for an appointment with the U.S. government to request asylum through the CBP One application, so he asked to speed up the process.
“The truth is that the borders are already very congested, they are already full of people, we need help, it is desperate, that is why I know that people are desperate and want to give themselves up,” the migrant concluded.
Martin Coronado.
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