The United States Border Patrol has detained 2,500 migrants in the last 48 hours and expects to complete its processing and transfer to its facilities in the next 24 hours, the head of the National Border Patrol, Raúl Ortiz, announced this Thursday.
In a statement to the press at gate 42 of the border fence between Mexico and the United States, about 15 kilometers east of the city of El Paso (Texas), Ortiz pointed out that 1,500 people have already been processed and sent to centers of said security body.
Another 1,000 people, including families with minors and single adults, began to be sent at 3:15 p.m. local time (04:15 p.m. Colombia time) on buses from said gate to the Border Patrol facilities. The security officer thanked state and local authorities for their help to «transport and process these migrants» at its «facilities in order to carry out the process in the appropriate manner.»
«We are prioritizing the most vulnerable and we are doing it in the fastest, safest and most efficient way possible,» added Ortiz, who did not admit questions.
Migrants wait to be processed by US Border Patrol agents after crossing into the US illegally, in Yuma, Arizona.
(You can read: ‘They separated me from my 10-year-old son’: the drama of Colombians deported by the US).
The first group of migrants left just six hours before Title 42 is lifted, which can be applied to these people and allows their immediate return for public health reasons. With the beginning of their transfer, the authorities introduced a couple of dozen mobile toilets to the area where the refugees are, waiting in lines and under the sun.
These groups are usually concentrated in the area between the border fence and the Rio Grande, which is still US territory. This morning, the authorities evacuated hundreds of people who had gathered a little further west, in front of gate 40 of the fence.
(Of your interest: Who are the people the United States is deporting to Colombia?).
After the expiration of Title 42, Title 8 will remain in force, the norm that has historically governed migration in the United States and, in addition, the Government of President Joe Biden has announced new measures that restrict access to the asylum application in the border with Mexico. These new measures considering migrants who cross the border irregularly and who have not requested protection in a third country their journey to the United States to request asylum «ineligible» to apply for asylum.
EFE