Two-mile camp in Mexico where migrants STILL waiting to get into US
The two-mile camp in Mexico where migrants are STILL waiting to get into the US: Staggering footage shows how the Title 42 surge could be far from over
- A migrant camp stretches for two miles along the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, the Mexican city that sprawls into the Texan town of Brownsville
- On Friday – the day after Title 42 was lifted – the camp was still full of people, suggesting that many are biding their time to enter the U.S.
- Border Patrol agents have reported that the border was unusually quiet on Thursday and Friday, as migrant digest the implications of the rule change
A migrant camp in the Mexican border town of Matamoros stretched two miles in length on Friday – suggesting that, despite the Biden administration’s change of border protocol on Thursday, thousands more people were intending to cross.
Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side of the border said that the crossings were unusually quiet. In recent weeks, 10,000 people have been stopped each day as migrants rushed to get across before the system changed.
At midnight Eastern Time on Thursday – or 11pm in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico – Title 42 was lifted, signifying the end of a pandemic-era policy that allowed the immediate expulsion of migrants.
In its place, the Biden administration brought in what they hoped was a controlled alternative.
Migrants are now entitled to claim asylum.
A man rides a bicycle through the camp on the banks of the Rio Grande, which stretches for two miles
Tents are pictured running along the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros. The Texan city of Brownsville is on the other side of the river
Migrants encamped along the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, across the river from Brownsville, Texas, are pictured on Friday being given rice and beans by a church group
Migrants have set up a camp which stretches for two miles along the river bank
Migrants watch as a person attempts to swim across the Rio Grande
The young man could be seen on Friday setting off on an inflatable raft
A pile of discarded clothes is seen by the tents in Matamoros, Mexico, on Friday
Migrants are seen on Friday in El Paso handing themselves in and being searched by a sheriff
But those coming from countries other than Mexico had to prove they had applied for asylum in another country and been rejected, or else they would be immediately turned back and banned from the U.S. for five years, possibly facing criminal charges.
Those hoping to apply had to use an app to create a profile – unless they could prove they were unable to access the app.
And processing centers had been set up in countries such as Haiti to allow for asylum seekers to apply in-country, rather than risk the perilous journey to the border. The U.S. said up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua would be approved to enter.
Many expected that the lifting of Title 42 would see a surge on the border, but on Friday that had not materialized. Many migrants appeared to be waiting to see what the policy changes would mean in practice.
At the Matamoros camp, many migrants who DailyMail.com spoke to were from Venezuela.
Some had set up small bodegas, while others spent their days sitting on the river bank watching the Texas National Guard on the other side.
Johangel Chavez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, arrived in the camp two months ago and has set up a barber’s shop.
Johangel Chavez, 28, from Venezuela, set up his make-shift barber’s shop two months ago, and is undercutting the salons in the city of Matamoros
Chavez is pictured cutting the hair of Albert Pineda, 40
A makeshift bodega has sprung up in the migrant camp in Matamoros
A woman serves coffee inside the migrant camp in Matamoros on Friday
He said he was able to charge less than salons in the town of Matamoros, and so was kept busy with clients.
‘A person that was here before gave me all the gear to cut hair,’ he told DailyMail.com.
‘Mexicans are paying more than double for a haircut in the city so even Mexicans are coming here to get their hair cut.
‘I charge 50 pesos ($2.85) for a haircut. Mexicans pay 150 in the city.’
Chavez said he was optimistic that he would soon be able to cross into the United States.
‘Hopefully this new system is faster, but we’ll wait in good spirits,’ he said.
‘I think we will make it to the USA. People are afraid to pass through the river right now because they know they will get deported to their country.
‘We don’t want to cross the border illegally, we are waiting to do it all via the system.’
He said he left Venezuela because he was unable to make a living.
‘Things are heavy in Venezuela,’ he said.
‘There’s no work and lots of corruption. Also, if you don’t pay the mafia they kill you.’
Albert Pineda, 40, was having his hair cut by Chavez.
He said he missed his homeland, and wanted to follow the new rules for applying to enter the country.
‘It’s difficult, it’s not easy away from home,’ he said.
‘We have faith things will get better, but we want to follow the law and figure out how to get into USA.’
Migrants are pictured camped out along the banks of the Rio Grande on Friday
U.S. soldiers are pictured on Friday sitting on the other side of the Rio Grande
Members of the Texas National Guard keep watch from the U.S. side
The border policy shift ordered by President Joe Biden has been controversial, with his supporters on the left saying new rules are too strict while opponents on the right have claimed, without evidence, that he is ‘opening the borders.’
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, published a video and Twitter thread marking the moment at midnight Eastern Time that the Title 42 ended.
‘We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws,’ he said.
‘Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.’
Mayorkas and the Biden administration have faced an avalanche of criticism for the scenes at the border, as thousands of migrants gather in the hope of entering the U.S. now the restrictions have ended.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, published a video on Twitter on Thursday night warning of tough penalties if migrants cross illegally, as Title 42 is rescinded
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said smugglers were massing in large numbers at the southern border of his country, offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.
But Mayorkas on Thursday tried to tell those aiming to cross that it was a bad move.
‘Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum,’ he tweeted.
‘We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.
‘People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution.
‘Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.’
The expiring rules have been in place since March 2020.
They allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
U.S. authorities have unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42, which crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks.
If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.
Groups of migrants from Peru and Senegal beat the clock just before the expiration of Title 42 in Yuma, Arizona
Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday
Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days
On the U.S. side of the river, many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.
It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last.
A U.S. official reported the Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday – nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.
More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.
‘Our buses are full. Our planes are full,’ said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, as recent arrivals headed to locations across the U.S.
Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while.
Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action.
His new policy came under immediate legal attack.
In Florida, a federal judge agreed to a request from the state’s Republican administration and ordered border patrol to stop granting parole to border crossers and asylum seekers – letting them remain in the United States while their cases are reviewed, a process that can take years.
And in Texas, 13 Republican-led states filed a suit declaring parole ‘illegal.’
Parole ‘creates incentives for even more illegal aliens to travel to the southwest border,’ they said.
Migrants wait for asylum hearings at the US-Mexico border just ahead of the lifting of Covid-era Title 42 border controls
Some of the pressure south of the border appeared to alleviate on Friday, as Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the number of US-bound migrants crossing his country was ebbing.
He said only around 26,500 migrants were waiting in Mexican cities along the long US frontier, and the situation was ‘calm and normal.’
‘The flux is dropping today. We have not had confrontations or situations of violence on the border,’ Ebrard told reporters.
But the United Nations warned any lasting solution to the region’s migration challenges would have to be built jointly by the United States and its southern neighbors.
‘The Americas… are going through an unprecedented displacement crisis,’ said Olga Sarrado, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.
‘Just decisions from one single country are not going to fix the challenges and we cannot forget that these are human beings.’
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