Mexico’s border feels the strain of US immigration restrictions ahead of elections

Migrants stranded in Mexico and shelters are feeling the effects of new restrictions on the border with the United States, where this Monday marks two weeks since the Biden administration announced it would tighten border security and limit asylum in the midst of election campaigns.

In Ciudad Juárez, the epicenter of the binational crisis in Mexico , there is concern about the politicization of migration three weeks before the U.S. presidential elections on November 5, Pastor Francisco Gónzalez, director of the Vida shelter of the Somos Uno por Juárez network of migrant shelters, told EFE.

“It does have an impact. Usually, when there are elections, the issue becomes politicized, so when that happens, it does have an impact because in this case, migrants, regardless, are going to look for a way to be able to enter or arrive, but now with greater risk. I think it puts them in greater danger, that is what we have really noticed,” he commented.

More limits on migration

The Biden administration announced on Sept. 30 that it would tighten restrictions it enacted in June to prohibit people who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum in the United States and suspend processing of applications if arrests of undocumented immigrants at the border exceed 1,500 for seven days.

Under the new changes, the number of arrests to reactivate the asylum system must remain below 1,500 for a period of 28 consecutive days and unaccompanied minors are included in the count of irregular migrants for this purpose.

Since the first asylum restrictions were put in place on June 5 , expulsions of migrants arrested at the border have nearly tripled as of August 31 , and authorities are now deporting 70% of all adults and families apprehended at the border, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Pastor Gonzalez warned that this “emotionally affects” migrants “because when they arrive here they have already suffered countless situations with the dream of being able to achieve it and then, once they are here, they find that it is not very easy to cross.”

“However, despite all this, many will continue to insist. The reason they continue to insist is because those who have been victims of forced displacement, for example, have no other choice,” the pastor commented.

Nervousness among migrants

Migrants expressed their nervousness about the elections in the United States, where former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) seeks to return to the White House with anti-immigrant policies, and Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has promised more control at the border.

“All the immigrants who are arriving are hoping to get in and see everything that happens with the presidency (in the United States). They (U.S. politicians) have their own way of seeing things, they have the last word, no one else,” Javier Ceballos, originally from Ecuador, told EFE in Ciudad Juárez.

Daily migrant arrests at the US- Mexico border fell 66 % from December to September, according to the Mexican government, but irregular migration through Mexico rose 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year to more than 712,000 people, according to the Migration Policy Unit. EFE