President-elect Joe Biden made several “commitments” to immigrants wanting to make their way into the United States and now a caravan of migrants are moving to the U.S. border calling on the incoming administration to honor those promises causing fears of a surge at the border.
Over 1,000 Honduran migrants, which is just a portion of the larger group that left a Honduran city earlier the same day, traveled to Guatemala on Friday without registering.
According to the Associated Press, the group hopes to receive a warm welcome at the border when they arrive. A migrant rights group. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, expects the Biden administration to take action.
A statement from the group on behalf of the caravan said, “We recognize the importance of the incoming Government of the United States have shown a strong commitment to migrants and asylum seekers, which presents an opportunity for the governments of Mexico and Central America to develop policies and migration management that respects and promote the human rights of the population. We will advocate that the Biden government honors its commitments.”
Biden made many promises of changing Trump’s policies on border security and immigration. He said he would end the Migration Protection Protocols, which keeps migrants in Mexico while they wait for their hearings. President Trump said the program put a stop to pull factors that bring migrants to the states. Critics disagree saying the policy is cruel and puts migrants at risk.
Biden also said he would provide citizenship for those who were already in the country illegally and a moratorium on deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The migrants’ group also brought up promises to put an end to asylum cooperative agreements the Trump administration made with Northern Triangle countries.
“A new United States Government is an opportunity to work with the Mexican Government to develop a cooperation plan with Central America to address the causes of migration, together with civil society organizations, as well as an opportunity to increase regional cooperation regarding the persons in need of protection, and to dismantle illegal and inhuman programs such as Remain in Mexico, the United States’ Asylum Cooperation Agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as the Title 42 expulsions by the United States authorities,” said the group in reference to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) order which allows the United States to remove migrants on public health grounds.
However, Biden officials have been quick to let migrants know that this does not mean borders will open overnight.
Susan Rice, the incoming Biden domestic policy adviser, told Spanish wire service EFE, “Processing capacity at the border is not like a light that you can just switch on and off. Migrants and asylum seeders absolutely should not believe those in the region peddling the idea that the border will suddenly be fully open to process everyone on Day 1.”
“It will not,” she added.
“Our priority is to reopen asylum processing at the border consistent with the capacity to do so safely and to protect public health, especially in the context of COVID-19,” said Rice. “This effort will begin immediately but it will take months to develop the capacity that we will need to reopen fully.”
Officials are not sure how far the migrants will get, and reports from Guatemalan and Mexican governments say they intend on turning the group away.
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