Some 8,000 Honduran asylum seekers have been trying to set up a welcoming party for President Joe Biden this month. Their attempt to reach the U.S. southern border in at least two caravans was thwarted thanks to agreements President Trump made with Mexico and Guatemala to use force to intercept illegal aliens. But Central America remains a simmering cauldron of prospective migrants desperate to work in the US
Mr. Biden must now come up with his own strategy. More resources on the border to process applicants can help. But without new incentives for migrants to follow the law, the US will be heavily dependent on the militarization of immigration policies in Guatemala and Mexico to curb the inevitable flow of illegal aliens.
It seems that the Hondurans have logically come to the conclusion that with the Democrats in power again, the restrictions on the asylum of the Trump era would definitely be lifted. However, on January 17, NBC News reported that a senior Biden transition official had said that the message to the migrants was that “this is not the time to undertake the journey”. The same official also said that they “must understand that they will not be able to come to the United States immediately.”
Good warning words did not discourage the migrants who left on 15 January. By January 18, they were engaged in violent confrontations with the Guatemalan national guard and the national police. Mothers in tears sat on the ground while holding children while young men blocked roads, threw stones and tried to push past law enforcement.
Reports from before say that thousands have been turned back. According to my sources, the rest are divided into smaller groups that are still moving north. The White House said at the weekend that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – known as AMLO – had agreed to continue restricting the flow of illegal aliens from Central America to Mexico. As they cross the U.S. border, Biden’s government has warned that processing priority will apply to those already waiting in the asylum waiting room.