www.reuters.com/world/americas/why-are-m...-numbers-2023-01-08/
What is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border now and why are there record numbers of crossings?
WHO IS TRYING TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES AT THE BORDER?
article-prompt-devices
Register for free to Reuters and know the full story
U.S. Border Patrol made more than 2.2 million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last September, the most ever recorded.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
But many of those were individual migrants who tried to cross multiple times after being caught and rapidly expelled back to Mexico under a COVID-era order known as Title 42.
The policy was implemented in March 2020 under Republican former President Donald Trump, an immigration hardliner. Biden, a Democrat, tried to end the Title 42 order, which health officials said was no longer needed, but the termination was blocked in court.
Latest Updates
Brazil riot police deploy at Bolsonaro backers' camp after capital stormed
Brazil's currency, stock futures down after Bolsonaro supporters storm capital
Mexico inflation below forecasts in December, core inflation cools
Bolsonaro's Florida stay puts ball in Biden's court after Brasilia riots
Before last year, Mexico had generally only been accepting expulsions of its own citizens along with migrants from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The number of Venezuelans crossing the border plummeted after Mexico agreed to accept expulsions of Venezuelan migrants last October.
Biden announced on Thursday that Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans - who have also been arriving in larger numbers - will now also be expelled under Title 42.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
WHY ARE PEOPLE CROSSING?
Before Title 42, migrants had been allowed to approach a U.S. port of entry and tell border officials they feared returning to their home country, which sets in motion the asylum process.
Migrants looking for protection must prove they have been persecuted, or fear they will be, on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group to a U.S. asylum officer or in U.S. immigration court.
Migrants who have arrived on U.S. soil are eligible to ask for asylum, even if they cross the border illegally and turn themselves into border agents, but winning a case is a long and complicated process that can take years due to backlogs.
The Biden administration has said it wants to surge resources to process more claims quicker but faces budgetary and other constraints.
The administration in its announcement Thursday also said it would expand its use of an app called CBP One that allows asylum seekers to enter their information as a pre-screening step to be given an appointment at a U.S. port
THEY CAN ALSO SEEK EMPLOYMENT,WITH CERTAIN RULES IN PLACE (WHILE THEY WAIT)