Immigration Surge Poses Significant Challenge To Biden Administration

A surge in illegal immigration due to COVID-19 and economic hardship is expected to be the first major challenge of President-elect Joe Biden’s plans for more relaxed immigration policies concerning the U.S.’s southern border, the New York Times reported Sunday.

There was an initial decline in migration this year, though apprehensions of illegal immigrants in rural Arizona began increasing in October, the Times reported. The numbers indicate that migrants are making multiple attempts to successfully cross the border since the Trump administration’s expulsion policy was implemented.

“The pressures that have caused flows in the past have not abated and, in fact, have gotten worse because of the pandemic. If there is a perception of more-humane policies, you are likely to see an increase of arrivals at the border,” Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at the New School in New York T. Alexander Aleinikoff said, the Times reported.

“That doesn’t mean that those flows cannot be adequately handled with a comprehensive set of policies that are quite different from Trump’s,” Aleinikoff said, the Times reported. “But you need a well-functioning bureaucracy to handle it.”

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The Trump administration instituted the Migrant Protection Protocols following a zero-tolerance policy in 2018, the Times reported. The policy mandated that asylum seekers would not be permitted to enter the U.S. while awaiting their immigration hearings, causing around 67,000 people to remain in makeshift camps reportedly regulated by gangs in Mexico.

Biden could overturn the policy as soon as he takes office since it was never officially codified, according to the Times.

“The new administration is going to have to find a way to push back on unrestrained, unauthorized migration with humane enforcement while dealing with people seeking asylum in an expeditious way that recognizes their legitimate claims,” Bush administration Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said, the Times reported.

Economic hardships in Central Ameria, widespread devastation to agriculture and infrastructure by Hurricanes Eta and Iota, and the anticipation of relaxed U.S. migration policy are all factors encouraging migrants to head to the U.S., the Times reported.

A recent migrant caravan in Honduras was blocked from entering Guatemala on its way to the U.S., the Times reported. COVID-19 has created economic hardships in Mexico, causing an increase in migration from the country.