The unusual increase in migration across the Americas has become the most prominent issue in the relationship between the United States and Mexico. US authorities blocked migrants 2.8 million times at the southern border in the 12 months ending September – breaking the previous record set a year earlier.
The two countries, geographically linked, share a common interest: trying to deter people from attempting to cross illegally across an already overwhelming border. As the numbers have hit new highs, President Biden has focused more on enforcement designed to reduce unauthorized crossings.
How can Biden pursue these increasingly aggressive measures? With help from the Mexican government. Mexico has agreed to take in a growing number of migrants the United States is rapidly deporting after they enter the country.
This month, Biden announced some of his toughest actions yet: a policy that will deny a specific group of migrants the chance to seek asylum if they cross the border illegally, and instead send they go to Mexico.
Radicals have blamed the president for the sweeping restrictions, which one immigrant advocate called “a humanitarian disgrace.”
I’ve covered these issues for nearly three years as The Times’ Mexico bureau chief, and I’ve noticed that as desperation on both sides of the border has grown in recent months, so has it. The same goes for cooperation between the two governments.
That momentum was on display at this week’s summit in Mexico City between Biden and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts. I was impressed by Biden’s clarity invest in building relationships with the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose help he needed more than ever.
Biden thanked Mexico for helping to manage what he called “the greatest migration in human history” and defended his approach as a “middle-way” between “extremes” in the immigration policy ideas on the left and right.
In today’s newsletter, I’ll look at why so many people are migrating right now and what the United States and Mexico are trying to do about it.
Mass migration
A lot of people are emigrating right now because of how bad life has been south of the border for the past few years. Latin America has been hit hard by the pandemic and the economic downturn that followed.
The ranking of the poor in the region will up to 45 million, the United Nations estimates. Hunger – due to inflation, war in ukraine and the effects of climate change — increasing.
Unlike most of the rest of the world, when suffering hits Latin America, hundreds of millions of its inhabitants may decide to walk to the United States.
The migrants have become so desperate that they are defying the 66-mile journey through a treacherous forest on the Colombia-Panama border known as Darien distance. Once considered virtually impassable, it is now a major thoroughfare for record numbers of migrants. From 2010 to 2020, on average fewer than 11,000 people cross the border each year. Last year, more than 248,000 people made the journey.
Biden’s policy
Biden came to power two years ago, vowing to repeal the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies in favor of more “humane” treatment of people who have fled their homes because they have no food or are trying to escape. from violence.
Immediately after taking office, Biden offered to immediately stop deporting unaccompanied children and tried to freeze deportations. (A judge stopped the attempt.)
But after the number of migrants spiked, the Biden administration finally embraced stricter enforcement.
The administration has benefited from what many see as the de facto border wall: an anti-pandemic measure known as Title 42 that allows US officials to quickly deport migrants who have crossed the border. illegally enter this country.
But Biden has been effectively prevented from taking that measure against Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Cubans – four nationalities that have become a growing source of migration. Governments in those countries have made it difficult to bring their citizens home, so Mexico often refuses to accept them.
Earlier this month, Biden announced that he had found a way to quickly deport those migrants; Mexico has agreed to receive up to 30,000 units per month.
What does Mexico want?
The Mexican government is looking for the same thing as the United States: reducing the number of migrants crossing its border.
The government says the influx of immigrants makes it difficult for Mexico because it depletes already thin public resources and puts money in the hands of organized crime groups that specialize in smuggling people through. It’s also bad for migrants, who are forced to make perilous journeys through Mexico’s violent corridors.
Part of Biden’s new policy addresses that need. The administration will give up to 30,000 people from four countries the opportunity to enter the United States legally, but only if they have not passed through Mexico and can meet other requirements.
Since the new policy was announced, a senior Mexican official told me, the government has noticed a drop in migrants entering Mexico — and the United States.
LATEST NEWS
Politic
Severe weather
Economy
-
Lisa Marie Presley, singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died after being briefly hospitalized and emergency. She was 54.
-
Western tanks appear headed for Ukraine, break a taboo. With a new Russian attack expected, officials see the need to shift the balance.
-
A study found that Exxon scientists predicted global warming decades ago with incredible accuracy. The the company openly casts doubt on that research.
-
Atlanta prosecutors are building a case against rapper Young Thugsays his hip-hop label YSL is also a street crime gang.
-
It’s not just you: Missing eggs in parts of the United States An outbreak of avian influenza was a contributing factor.
opinion
The government does not want to regulate the aviation industry push air travel into endless crisis, William McGee discuss.
Donald Trump’s political baggage is real. But he has a much higher chance of winning the presidency than many think, Kellyanne Conway write.
If anyone is going to tell the story of Pamela Anderson’s life, that would be her, Jessica Bennett write.
Distracting Master: Bill Nighy doesn’t know how to talk about his job. Instead, he prefers to be self-deprecating.
In the garden: It’s okay to be taken away when going to buy flower seeds.
Modern love: Monks can teach Useful lessons about love.
A Times classic: Use a paper plan.
Advice from Wirecutter: OK Reliable Wi-Fi.
Life lived: Paul Johnson, a journalist, biographer and historian highly regarded by conservatives, has established himself as a literate in the great British tradition. He passed away at the age of 94.
SPORTS NEWS FROM Ethics
The NCAA needs Congress to: It’s a new world in college athletics thanks to NIL opportunities. For the model to exist, it needs congressional help.
High school students take 1st place: Angel City FC selects 18-year-old player Alyssa Thompson with choice number 1 in the draft NWSL. Thompson had stints with the U.S. women’s national team and played in the MLS Next tournament for the U-19 men’s team.
ARTS AND IDEAS
Prestige moment of the game
Direct adaptations of video games have disappointed critics and fans for decades. But “The Last of Us”, a new HBO show based on the game series of the same name, seems to have broken the so-called “video game curse”.
The show, which premiered on Sunday, follows two survivors as they travel through a world that has been largely destroyed by a mushroom pandemic. The Times critic James Poniewozik wrote that the series do not support the plague-apocalyptic genre. “But with a little hope and a refutation of nihilism,” he adds, “’The Last of Us’ has some important mutations that make it a variant of interest.”
Gamers also seem satisfied. At the game site IGN, Simon Cardy wrote“HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ is a breathtaking adaptation of one of the most influential stories told in video games and brings Joel and Ellie’s journey to a whole new audience. excellently.”
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to cook?
