The new agreement between the United States and Mexico to deport undocumented migrants from the border

U.S recorded in August the highest number of arrests of migrants on the border with Mexico so far this year: 232,972 people. The number represents a 27% increase from the 183,494 apprehensions in July, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). And the way things are going in September, the record numbers aren’t going to let up. For this reason, over the weekend the US and Mexico reached a 15-point agreement to stop the huge migratory flow.

This month, the number of border crossings returned to levels prior to the end of the period Title 42 in May this year, with 8 thousand arrests in one day. This after daily arrests dropped sharply to 3,500 per day following the end of Title 42.

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The new agreement was agreed by the National Migration Institute (INM) of Mexicothe railway company Ferromex and the Border Patrol of the United States (CBP), after a meeting held in City Juarez.

A group of migrants travel on the train known as “La Bestia” on September 16, 2023 in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. (EFE/ Luís Torres).

In accordance with this agreement, which is intended “depressurize” the border, Mexico committed to tightening measures to prevent the passage of undocumented migrants through its territory, using freight trains.

The signed document says that at this moment the objective is “to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using this means of transport (train) with the intention of reaching the border”.

He INM informed that it will locate together with Ferromex the strategic points of the railway to carry out “rescue and deterrence” of migrants, in coordination with the army, the National Guard and the police.

There is also a commitment to Mexico to return migrants who are turned away on U.S. soil to their home countries.

In this way, the Border Patrol will hand over the migrants Mexico over the International Bridge separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas. So, Mexico will have to return migrants to their countries, after “making agreements with the governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba so that they can welcome their compatriots”, according to a statement from INM.

In addition to sending them to their home countries, Mexico has pledged to take steps to discourage migrants from traveling across the continent to seek asylum in the United States.

United States Border Patrol agents process migrants who were camping between the two southern border fences with Mexico, in San Diego, California, on September 25, 2023. (EFE/EPA/ALLISON DINNER). (DINNER ALLISON/)

As Univisión explained, before the current wave of registered migrants starting in August, all undocumented immigrants subject to deportation remained in detention while their processes took place “and only some were able to obtain asylum”.

Now, “after the surge, some are being released in handcuffs due to a lack of space in prisons and detention centers,” Alex Gálvez, an immigration attorney practicing in Los Angeles, California, told Univision.

A woman sits in a makeshift tent, protected from the sun, as she waits for Border Patrol at the southern U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego. (EFE/EPA/ALLISON DINNER).

On Saturday, the mayor of The stepOscar Leeser said at a press conference that the city does not have enough resources to deal with the increase in migrants and is “at breaking point”.

About 6,500 immigrants are detained in El Paso alone, which “has limited resources,” the mayor said.

Friday, Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, acknowledged in New York that her country is “oppressed” by the migratory flow.

For this reason, he continued, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador intends to meet in November with his American counterpart Joe Biden to address the problem of immigration.

The company Ferromex announced on Tuesday last week the suspension of the activity of 60 freight trains, out of a total fleet of 200 daily, due to the flow of thousands of migrants who use these vehicles to reach the border.

The AFP agency explained that until then, around 4,300 people remained on the locomotives or in the operations yards. Ferromex in cities such as Torreón, Irapuato, San Francisco de los Romo or Chihuahua, to which fatal accidents have been added in recent days.

For the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said it will send at least 800 more soldiers to the border, where 2,500 members of the National Guard are already stationed.

Dead and missing migrants in America. (AFP).

Source: Elcomercio