US to open foreign centres in bid to stop migration surge

WASHINGTON (AP):

The Biden administration announced on Thursday plans to open migration centres in Guatemala and Colombia for asylum-seekers heading to the US-Mexico border, a bid to slow what’s expected to be a surge of migrants as pandemic-era immigration restrictions end.

The migration centres are part of an intense effort to try to prevent thousands of people from making the often-dangerous journey to the southern border when the restrictions end May 11.

But it is unclear whether the processing centres and other measures, including expedited processing for asylum-seekers and crackdowns on human smuggling networks, will do much to slow the tide of migrants fleeing from countries marred by political and economic strife.

“This is a hemispheric challenge that demands hemispheric solutions,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a news conference as he outlined upcoming steps ahead of the May 11 deadline.

Mayorkas also warned that migrants and the human smugglers should not interpret the upcoming deadline to mean that the border is wide open: ”Let me be clear, our border is not open and not will be open after May 11.”

Immigration has vexed Biden throughout his presidency, with top GOP leaders hammering him as soft on border security and immigrant advocates, saying he’s abandoning humanitarian efforts with stricter measures meant to keep migrants from coming illegally.

So far, centres will be located in Colombia and Guatemala, with other countries to be announced in the coming weeks. Prospective migrants would be able to go to the centres instead of coming to the border and get information on applying to become a refugee or other immigration options to either the United States or other countries.

The centres would be run by international organisations. Prospective migrants would be able to make an appointment on their phone to visit one of the centres, according to a fact sheet released by the Department of Homeland Security.

The immigration restrictions date back to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic when the Trump administration invoked a rule — known as Title 42 — which allowed border officials to quickly expel migrants without letting them apply for asylum.

Since March 2020, migrants have been expelled from the country more than 2.8 million times using Title 42.