Biden makes first visit to US-Mexico border since taking office

United States President Joe Biden has made his first go to to the US-Mexico border since taking workplace in January of 2022.

The hours-long go to on Sunday adopted a just lately introduced coverage initiative by the Biden administration meant to handle a rise in undocumented border crossings.

The politically charged situation has dogged the Democratic president since taking workplace, with Republican critics charging the administration has been too lenient, and rights teams charging the newly introduced measures will put asylum seekers’ lives in danger.

The cease within the metropolis of El Paso, Texas, occurred as Biden travelled to Mexico, the place he’s set to satisfy President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday earlier than attending a three-way summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the next day in Mexico Metropolis.

“They want loads of assets. We’re going to get it for them,” Biden instructed reporters in Texas, the place he met border brokers on the Bridge of the Americas, which connects El Paso to the Mexican metropolis of Ciudad Juarez, and is among the busiest ports of entry between the 2 nations.

In the course of the go to, Biden watched as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search autos for medication, cash and different contraband. He later inspected a piece of the tall fencing alongside the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

In the meantime, in an indication of the deep political tensions over immigration, Republican Governor Greg Abbott handed Biden a letter on his arrival that stated the alleged “chaos” on the border was the “direct consequence” of the president’s failure to implement federal legal guidelines.

Controversial asylum insurance policies

Final week, the Biden administration unveiled new immigration guidelines it anticipates will “considerably scale back” the variety of individuals in search of to cross the southern border, Biden instructed reporters on the time.

The foundations create a brand new programme that permits a authorized pathway for as many as 30,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals to enter the US a month and obtain two-year work permits, supplied they’ve sponsors within the US and cross background checks.

In flip, the coverage permits US authorities to expel to Mexico residents of these 4 nations who irregularly cross the border and bar them from accessing the programme. Mexico has agreed to simply accept 30,000 expelled residents of the 4 nations in a month, in line with the administration.

Rights teams say the coverage is dangerous to people who don’t have any different alternative however to irregularly cross the border to hunt asylum. They cost the brand new coverage is an extension of the previous President Donald Trump-era Title 42, which permits authorities to quickly expel grownup asylum seekers crossing the border, citing COVID-19 well being considerations.

After a prolonged courtroom battle, a US federal decide in November ordered Title 42 be lifted, however the US Supreme Courtroom late final month agreed to contemplate whether or not Republican-led states can problem the tip of the coverage, leaving it in place in the intervening time.

Within the wake of final week’s announcement, Heidi Altman, coverage director on the Nationwide Immigrant Justice Middle, accused the Biden administration of “overtly rejecting” US legislation, which “clearly says it’s authorized to reach on the border & search asylum”.

On board Air Drive One on Sunday, Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas instructed reporters that the administration was attempting to “incentivise a protected and orderly approach and reduce out the smuggling organisations”.

He stated the coverage was “not a ban in any respect”, however an try to guard migrants and refugees from the trauma smuggling can create.

Medicine, economic system prime Mexico go to

Following the border go to, Biden was set to proceed on to Mexico, the place the rise in crossings, in addition to efforts to combat the trafficking of fentanyl and different medication which have fuelled a lethal dependancy disaster within the US, had been set to prime the agenda of the bilateral assembly with Lopez Obrador.

On Saturday, Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson John Kirby stated Washington was “making strides” with its companions to grab illicit opioids and different medication, calling it an “ongoing effort”.

Mexico has lengthy been tormented by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen greater than 340,000 individuals murdered for the reason that authorities deployed the army in its battle on medication in 2006. On the marketing campaign path, Lopez Obrador promised to maneuver away from the militarised strategy, however critics say he has made solely superficial modifications. Nonetheless, he has stated that Mexico Metropolis is in search of funding in regional financial improvement from Washington.

Days earlier than Biden’s go to, Mexican safety forces captured a son of infamous drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who’s serving a life sentence within the US.

On Tuesday, efforts to strengthen financial ties are set to dominate a trilateral summit of the leaders of the US, Mexico, and Canada.

The assembly comes amid an ongoing Mexican power dispute with the US and Canada, with Washington and Ottawa arguing that Lopez Obrador’s efforts to offer management of the market to his cash-strapped state power corporations breach the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) commerce deal.

The US and Canada have launched dispute decision proceedings in opposition to Mexico, casting a pall over hopes of supporting cooperation in jobs and funding.