From Tijuana on the Pacific coast to Nogales, from Ciudad Juarez to Ojinaga, then down southeast along the desert to Nuevo Laredo, to Matamoros on the Atlantic coast, the border between the southern and northern hemispheres is 3,000 kilometers long .
And all along this border, the one between Mexico and the United States, there are now tens of thousands of people – waiting. They come from Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and all the countries of Central America. They traveled for weeks, months, carrying their possessions and their children on their backs, braving hunger and thirst and fatigue and the traffickers of men and the corrupt police forces of every border. AND’ “the path of a fleeing people, of those fleeing the dust and shrinking countryside”, John Steinbeck allegedly said.
Now they are massed there – and so many more arrive, along the same red and white streets. Everyone is waiting for the X hour, midnight on May 11: the moment in which the infamous “Title 42” – the law that effectively sealed the southern border of the United States – expires.
But it is by no means certain that all this effort made sense.
Title 42
Title 42 is the name of the rule introduced in March 2020 by then President Donald Trump, for “health reasons”. It allows asylum seekers to be immediately expelled from the United States due to the Covid emergency. In three years, more than 2 million 800 thousand people have been expelled under this law. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, had revoked it a year ago but the Supreme Court had then reinstated it, accepting the appeal of some Republican states.
But now the pandemic is officially over. And Title 42 lapses: the ordinary law, Title 8, which allows asylum seekers to wait within the territory of the United States for the outcome of their request, returns to force.
In anticipation of this day, the Biden administration has launched new measures in recent months, including a “flow plan” that allows the legal entry of 30,000 migrants from some countries for two years and with a work permit, even with a process online registration – but those who exceed the quota risk being sent back to Mexico. And above all, those who cross the border illegally can be expelled without excessive formalities. Internal Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned that from midnight anyone trying to enter from the southern border will be considered illegal and turned away.
It is not enough to discourage the long stream of people who have flown from the poor south of the continent towards the rich north, more imagined and dreamed of than known.
In El Paso, Texas alone, more than 150,000 people are expected, averaging about 10,000 a day. Over 11,000 people have been stopped by the border police while crossing the border illegally, but it is clear that it is like stopping the tide. Reception centers are collapsing far beyond capacity and starting to let go of excess migrants. In Mexico, thousands await the right moment to try their luck.
migrants cross the Rio Grande
The impotence of politics
“There will be some chaos for a while,” admitted Joe Biden, who sent another 1,500 soldiers to the border in addition to the 2,500 National Guardsmen already present and the hundreds sent by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
The problem is humanitarian, but for the president it is also political.
“It will be a day of infamy, our country will be destroyed,” accuses Trump. The Republicans in the House, on the other hand, approved in record time a detailed legislation to strengthen border security: the resumption of construction of the wall on the border, millions of dollars to increase the number of border agents, tightening on the asylum process. The bill has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate, but it will be a good hype.
Even traditionally democratic cities, sanctuaries of hospitality, are in serious trouble.
In New York, Mayor Eric Adams has temporarily suspended an old rule that guarantees anyone in need “the right to a roof” within the same night. “New York City welcomed over 61,000 people last year alone,” he says, “but without federal and state support, we fear the worst.”
