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Migrants have continued to have their way into the United States, barely 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced new rules of shutting the border.
Freddy Sanchez and his family walked for days under a scorching sun, crossing into the United States.
“Even if they say they will close the borders, they will never be able to shut them,” said Sanchez, who arrived on Thursday to claim asylum.
Sanchez, 37, said he and his family had travelled for weeks from their native Guatemala, and heard about changes at the border on Tuesday, the day the measure was signed.
“I thought about it and I got discouraged. But I said to myself ‘No, in the name of God we are going to get there.’ And here we are, more inside than outside.”
Biden’s executive order is intended to bar migrants who enter the US illegally from claiming asylum when averages surge past 2,500 in a day — a threshold that is currently always passed.
However, it appeared to be business as usual in Jacumba Hot Springs, California when AFP visited on Thursday.
“Nothing has changed,” said a Border Patrol officer on condition of anonymity after counting the dozens of migrants waiting to be taken to processing centres.
US media, citing sources with access to the data said 4,000 migrants were apprehended at the border on Wednesday.
Alex Roman, a 31-year-old Colombian who took the same arduous route as Sanchez and his family, also heard about the decree when he was on the Mexican side.
“I just had to push through. I’ve invested a lot of money in trying to get here, so why would I turn back without trying?”
Biden’s border move is an attempt to neutralize criticism of his management of immigration, an issue with which polls show he is struggling ahead of November’s rematch presidential election with Donald Trump.
AFP
