The United States faces an ongoing crisis at its southern border, now in its third year. There have been many surges of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border in recent history, but never on such a large scale or as sustained.
Republicans say the crisis is a direct result of the Biden administration’s policies. But Democrats and the administration say the U.S. has a broken system that needs reforming and funding, something Congress has so far failed to address.
How did the immigration crisis begin?
The surge further escalated in 2021, after increasing for months in 2020 from the lowest levels seen in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The number of encounters soared from 78,000 in January 2021 to 213,000 by July.
Encounters remained high until 2022, reaching a peak of 241,000 in May of the same year. The number of encounters in 2022 reached 2.3 million people, setting a new record. The following year, it broke that number to 2.4 million.
Biden urges Republicans to withdraw Senate bill during overwhelming border visit
President Biden speaks with Customs and Border Protection officials during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on January 8, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP)
Most recently, the monthly encounter record was broken in December, exceeding 300,000 for the first time, according to CBP. Meanwhile, the immigration court backlog has soared to more than 3 million cases, and fentanyl seizures at the southern border are setting records.
What will the Biden administration do?
The Biden administration said the surge is consistent with a surge in migration across the hemisphere driven by insecurity, poverty and other underlying causes.
“That’s because the world is experiencing the highest level of human displacement ever, and certainly since World War II. And the challenges we are experiencing at our borders are extremely acute. It’s a consequential challenge. It’s something the entire hemisphere is experiencing,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told The New York Times in February.
President Biden and former President Trump will visit the southern border in 2024 to make their case to voters.
Biden said Congress needs to “put politics aside” and pass the additional spending and reforms included in the bipartisan Senate bill. The bill includes adding staff at border and asylum offices, increasing funding by $1.4 billion to cities and organizations accepting migrants, tackling fentanyl smuggling and limiting asylum applications. It also plans to increase the number of detention beds to 50,000 and increase the number of immigration inspectors.
But the bill is unlikely to have enough support in the Senate after conservative lawmakers warned that the restriction mechanism, which would only be introduced when an average of 5,000 people are encountered a day, would normalize already high levels of illegal immigration. I couldn’t do it.
“It’s very simple. The time to act is now. It’s long past time to act,” Biden said. “The time has come to tackle this. We can’t wait any longer.”
Meanwhile, the administration is pursuing strategies to widen the impact of illegal entry, including banning asylum applications and expanding the use of instant removal measures, while expanding legal migration routes. However, he stressed that this would require more funding.
The administration denies claims that it has opened borders, pointing to more than 500,000 displacements or returns between May 2023 and January 2024. We also expanded the CBP One app to process more immigrants at ports of entry and launched a fundraising effort. Addressing the root causes in Central American countries and establishing processing centers in the region.
What do Republicans think?
Republicans and former Trump administration officials have criticized the Biden administration for its policies, including its Remain in Mexico program that keeps migrants in Mexico for asylum hearings, border wall construction and other measures to deter capture. They accuse him of rolling back successful policies from the Trump administration. -release.
Tom Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital that he believes President Trump’s policies secured the border.
“We gave the Biden administration the most secure border in my lifetime. It’s just based on facts. It’s based on data. The data is visible to everyone. And then President Biden came along. ” he said.
Homan and other critics also cited ICE’s 100-day deportation moratorium as evidence that the administration is pursuing an open borders policy.
“President Biden ran an open border. You have to give him credit. After he became president, he kept his promise and opened the border,” Homan said.
7.2 million people will enter the US under Biden, more than the population of 36 states
Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande River into the United States from Mexico line up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Eagle Pass, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Impact on elections
The crisis had major political consequences. Opinion polls show a majority of voters see large numbers of illegal immigrants as a “serious” threat, making the issue a top issue in 2024, and the immediate impact extends far beyond the border. It’s spreading beyond.
As more immigrants move into the interior, including through Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s bus program, cities like New York City, Chicago and Denver are overwhelmed by their numbers and the strain on their services. Mayors have appealed for help, asking for more than $5 billion in aid last year, among other measures.
Meanwhile, House Republicans impeached Mayorkas over his handling of the crisis and sent articles of impeachment to the Senate.
If elected, Mr. Trump has promised to reinstate many of his past policies and has promised to step up deportations.
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“The solutions are simple: Smash President Trump’s plan, reinstate the Remain in Mexico plan, reinstate the safe third country agreement, continue building the wall, and end catch-and-release.”,” Homan said. “These things now will solve 90% of the border problems.”
