Unaccompanied migrant children may enter the US
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), will assist unaccompanied children at the southern border. While adult and family migrants are still being sent back to Mexico, unaccompanied children will have the opportunity to be taken in by the US government. FEMA's mission will be to receive, house and transport the children for the next 90 days. President Joe Biden has made a predictable decision since, during his first months in the White House, he has reversed many of the policies imposed by former President Donald Trump, who, in 2019, in a similar context with migrants, described the situation as a "national emergency". On 8 March, a record number of 3,200 children were detained inside immigration facilities near the Mexican border.
Over the past few years, hundreds of children have crossed the border in search of a better life. When apprehended on U.S. soil, many of them spend more than the legal 72 hours inside these detention facilities, then are sent to health officials to find a home with or without relatives in the U.S. while their documentation and immigration status is being resolved. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will work closely with Human Services and the Department of Health, as this new number represents a 20 percent increase in shelter capacity. "Our goal is to ensure that unaccompanied children are transferred to HHS as quickly as possible, in accordance with legal requirements and in the best interests of the children," Mayorkas said.
Biden, since assuming the position of chief executive in January of this year, ordered a halt to the construction of the wall, ordered the reunification of families with migrant children, and has been in favour of the legalisation of the 'dreamers', who seek an immigration status that allows them not to be deported. In these two months of his administration, 5,871 children have crossed the border, an increase of 20% compared to December 2020 data, which recorded the entry of 4,995 children, figures that come from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The "no immediate deportation" policy has allowed minors to travel and enter the United States, President Biden has promised more flexible measures with regard to migration status, creating hope for thousands of migrants who wish to improve their quality of life and choose to live the so-called "American dream".
Ramón Márquez, migration coordinator for the NGO Ayuda en Acción in Mexico, commented that "this effect is also produced by the change of government (in the US). There is a sense of euphoria or a feeling that the borders are open. There is a lot of incorrect information on the route and also the groups that profit from trafficking send the message that the border is open, trying to move forward because now is a propitious moment. This is something very recent, in the last two, three weeks. "We have to be very attentive to what is going to happen because we are facing a massive exodus, a new migratory crisis in the region, not only of minors, but of the general population, of families, of women," he told the digital media France24.
On the political agenda, for some years now, there has been an immigration reform that has not been able to materialise, regarding the legalisation of 13 million undocumented immigrants. President Biden has referred to this issue and hopes that Congress will act reasonably so that these people can obtain the citizenship they have been waiting for for so long. It has been a long time since both houses of parliament, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, were in the hands of the Democrats, and we will see if this time they are able to pass legislation in favour of migrants.
