Deal with Mexico will allow U.S. to deport non-Mexicans at border
Mexicans #Mexicans
The Biden administration has reached a deal with the Mexican government that for the first time will allow U.S. authorities to deport non-Mexican migrants who entered the United States illegally back across the border, according to a joint statement by both nations issued late Tuesday.
U.S. authorities view the agreement as a breakthrough, giving them a powerful enforcement tool as they contend with soaring numbers of migrants crossing into the United States ahead of the White House’s plan to lift pandemic-era border restrictions on May 11.
The joint statement by the two nations said Mexican authorities will continue receiving Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans for “humanitarian” reasons once the restrictions expire. On Tuesday, Biden homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall traveled to Mexico City to meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other senior officials to finalize the deal.
In January, Mexican authorities agreed to let the United States send 30,000 migrants per month from the four nations back across the border after they were “expelled” by U.S. authorities using the pandemic health restrictions. As part of that accord, the Biden administration committed to allow the same number of migrants per month to enter the United States legally through a program known as parole.
“Today, the United States committed to continue accepting Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans under the humanitarian program,” said the statement, which was published in Spanish on a Mexican government site. “For its part, Mexico will continue accepting the return of migrants as a humanitarian gesture.”
The two countries are promoting their agreement as a more humane alternative to an enforcement-only approach to mass migration. The Biden administration has tallied record numbers of illegal entries across the southern border since the president took office, and officials expect crossings to go even higher next week when the pandemic restrictions known as Title 42 end.
The new agreement exemplifies the central role migration management is playing in the U.S.-Mexico relationship. It also shows U.S. authorities’ reliance on Lopez Obrador for the kind of enforcement measures Homeland Security officials lack while immigration revision measures remain stalled in Congress.
The statement by the two nations gave no indication how many U.S. deportees Mexico is willing to take back, but 30,000 would only amount to a fraction of the number of migrants crossing per month. About 6,000 to 8,000 migrants per day have been taken into U.S. custody during the past week, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures.
Border officials view deportations to Mexico as having more of a deterrent effect on migrants than the quick-return expulsions they have used during the pandemic. Border-crossers who are deported face a five-year ban on reentry and the threat of federal prosecution, including jail time.
But the possibility of large numbers of U.S. deportations to Mexico raises the risk of a worsening humanitarian crisis at a time when shelters on both sides of the border are maxed out and tensions in border communities are running high.
A fire at a Mexican immigration detention center in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, in March killed 40 people.
The Post reported in February that the United States and Mexico were in discussions for a deportation deal, after Biden officials said in court filings that the agreement was part of their preparations for lifting Title 42. Officials from both nations played down the discussions at the time and said they did not have an agreement in place.
Migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and especially Venezuela pose a major challenge to U.S. authorities because their governments limit U.S. deportations as a result of strained diplomatic relations.
The statement by U.S. and Mexico included other joint commitments to combat human trafficking and promote job creation and stability in Central America. The two countries will also work together on border modernization and an expanded port of entry in the city of Mexicali, across from California’s Imperial Valley, the statement said.