WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States (US) closed its Mexico border to asylum seekers yesterday, as President Joe Biden tries to neutralise his political weakness on migration ahead of November’s election battle with Donald Trump.
The 81-year-old Democrat signed a long-awaited executive order taking effect at midnight to “gain control” of the southern frontier with Mexico, after record numbers of illegal border crossings sparked concerns among voters.
“I’ve come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do – take the necessary steps to secure our border,” Biden said in a brief address at the White House, flanked by officials from border states.
Biden’s executive order bars migrants who enter the US illegally from claiming asylum when numbers surge past 2,500 in a day — a threshold that has already been passed. It also makes it easier to deport people back to Mexico. The curbs will remain in place until numbers fall back down below 1,500 illegal crossings a day.
Under Biden, illegal crossings of the 1,900-mile border have surged to record levels, rising to a monthly peak of around 300,000 – 10,000 a day – in December.
Most are from Central America and Venezuela as they flee poverty, violence and disasters exacerbated by climate change, but growing numbers are also coming from other parts of the world to Latin America before making the treacherous trip north to the United States.
“We have families, children to provide for. We don’t come here for pleasure,” Miguel Angel Ramos, a Honduran migrant, told AFP from the Mexican side of the border.
Erickson Quintero from Venezuela add that “it’s (Biden’s) decision. But we have suffered a lot,” including from cartels and police.
