Houston/Mexico City, May 12 (Xinhua) -- At midnight local time on May 11, the public health policy called "Article 42" expired. From the 12th, the US government no longer authorizes law enforcement personnel to quickly deport cross-border immigrants on the grounds of containing the new crown epidemic. Recently, more than 10,000 migrants have poured in every day on the US-Mexico border, and the situation in many places in the United States and Mexico is urgent.
The influx of immigrants has already made the government anxious, while the Democratic Party and Republican Party in the United States continue to fight over immigration. On the 11th, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a strict border security bill, proposing to restart the construction of the border wall and increase the restrictions on asylum applications, but this bill is difficult to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Partisanship has become the backbone of U.S. immigration policy, and US President Joe Biden's campaign promises of a "more humane immigration policy" when he took office two years ago have been dashed.
"The situation is completely out of control" on the US-Mexico border
Before midnight on the 11th, Mexico time, from Tijuana in western Mexico to Reynosa in the east, a large number of migrants gathered in major Mexican cities near the US-Mexico border for thousands of kilometers. They crossed the migration wall or the Bravo River from the Mexican border, and even a child was transported in a suitcase from water to the United States on the other side.
Photographs taken Dec. 7, 2021 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, show migrants trying to cross the Bravo River on the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States. Xinhua News Agency (photo by David Penardo)
Salvadoran Lyset Hernández told reporters in the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, on the northeastern border of Mexico, that she had been waiting at the border for a long time, hoping to find a way to the United States as soon as possible.
Also in the city of Reynosa, Guatemalan Marvin Hernández was full of anxiety in the face of the crowd. He said it was difficult to make appointments in the immigration process set up in the United States. As the influx of immigrants has poured in, he and many fear that the legal process will be slower and harder to apply for immigration.
In the early days of the new crown epidemic in 2020, the administration led by then-Republican President Trump invoked relevant provisions of the United States Code to implement collective deportation of immigrants who tried to illegally cross land borders into the United States on the grounds of epidemic prevention and control. This expedited deportation order is known as "Section 42". Federal government figures show that the deportation order resulted in the deportation of about 2.8 million illegal immigrants.
With the expiration of Article 42, the huge number of immigrants pouring in, the US federal and local governments are tired of coping, El Paso, Brownsville and other Texas border cities have recently declared a state of emergency. The federal government announced that it would send about 1,500 additional National Guardmen to the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Even so, according to the National Border Patrol Officers' Union, immigration reception sites are overcrowded and "the situation is completely out of control." And areas far from the border have not escaped the shock. The New York State government declared a state of emergency in the state on the 9th due to the influx of immigrants.
Bipartisan "use immigration as pawns"
On the 11th, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives of the US Congress voted to pass a border security bill, proposing a series of measures, including restarting the construction of the border wall, increasing restrictions on asylum applications, increasing funding for border law enforcement personnel, and upgrading border control technology.
The US media commented that this bill, passed on the day of the termination of "Article 42", is a "tough counterattack" by Republicans to the Biden administration's immigration policy. House Speaker McCarthy, a Republican, said Democrats have two years to address the "border crisis" they have created, but they have no plans so far.
The Biden administration has previously said it is ready for the expiration of Article 42, but blamed Congress for failing to make adjustments to the current immigration system.
In the United States, the Democratic and Republican parties have intensified in recent years, covering almost all fields, and the problem of difficult immigration is naturally no exception. The bipartisan attacks on immigration in the United States have exacerbated the chaos at the U.S. border.
Photos taken Dec. 7, 2021 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, show migrants trying to climb over the border wall into the U.S. being stopped by U.S. border enforcement agents. Xinhua News Agency (photo by David Penardo)
Since last year, Texas Governor Abbott and other Republican governors have used buses or planes to send a large number of immigrants to cities ruled by Democrats, including Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, etc., to protest the immigration policies of US President and Democrat Biden.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas said at a press conference held at the White House on the 11th that when government officials "use immigrants as pawns" for political purposes, the day is both sad and tragic.
"Shoot yourself in the foot"
In response to the new wave of immigrants, the US Department of Homeland Security said on social media on the 11th that after the termination of "Article 42", the United States will re-fully implement the "Article 8" of the United States Code, and quickly process and deport people who arrive illegally at the US border and have no legal reason to stay. The subject may face expedited deportation, a ban on entry into the United States for at least 5 years, and criminal prosecution.
Enrique Lucero, director of the immigration reception office in Tijuana, a border city in Baja California, Mexico, warned on his Twitter account on the 10th that the measures the United States plans to take after the termination of "Article 42" may not solve the problem, and even aggravate the migration crisis in the region.
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In fact, the immigration problem that has scratched the head of the U.S. government for years is precisely that it "shoots itself in the foot." A large proportion of illegal immigrants come from Central American countries, and their influx to the United States is entirely due to the United States. The wanton intervention of the United States has stirred up the situation in Central America, sowing the consequences of poverty and violence there. For example, years of brutal sanctions against Venezuela have seriously hindered the country's development, causing a large number of Venezuelans living in hardship to go to the United States.
Democratic U.S. Representative Ocasio-Cortez criticized: "The United States has been responsible for the instability of regime change in Latin America for decades. We can't set fire to someone's house and then blame them for fleeing. (Reporters: Liu Jian, Xu Jianmei, Wu Hao, Zhu Yubo; Video: Yujue Wang, Ricardo Montoya (reporter); Editors: Wang Fengfeng, Yu Rong, Cheng Dayu, Du Yuge, Chen Yufen, Yan Junyan)
Source: Xinhua News Agency