Migrants are processed by United States border patrol agents seen from the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on March 29, 2023.
The Biden administration would reportedly announce the opening of immigration processing facilities in Latin America on Thursday, April 27. This is part of an attempt to decrease the number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, four sources familiar with the story told CBS News.
The individuals claimed the brick-and-mortar processing facilities would assess migrants and decide whether they qualified for legal entry programs.
Establishing New Immigration Centers
The facilities would be placed in strategic chokepoints in Latin America through which many migrants pass on their way to the southern border of the US.
According to the sources, US authorities have contacted nations, including Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala, about the possibility of establishing such sites on their territory.
In order to evaluate whether or not migrants have a legitimate way to remain in the facilities, US consular personnel would be sent there to conduct interviews with migrants and host country employees.
These regional processing centers aim to slow immigration to the US-Mexico border. Meanwhile, officials are preparing to end Title 42. It is a pandemic-era policy that has allowed them to expel over 2.7 million migrants without processing their asylum claims since March 2020.
See Also : US-Mexico Border: Deadly Fire in Detention Center Prompts Investigation of Migration Chief
When the Nationwide Health Emergency Ends
On Thursday, the administration is expected to make a more comprehensive statement about how it is preparing for the end of Title 42 in May, when the national COVID-19 public health emergency is due to expire. Thus, government officials have privately projected that next month, the number of migrants arriving at the southern border might rise to between 10,000 and 13,000.
According to a senior US official who spoke with CBS News, illegal border crossings have grown in recent months, particularly in Texas's Rio Grande Valley. Over 40% more people were apprehended by Border Patrol on Tuesday, April 25, than on a typical day in March, the source said.
After Title 42 expires, the Biden administration is working to finalize a rule that would bar illegal immigrants from receiving asylum in the US if they failed to apply for such protection in a third country they traveled through.
The policy, which resembles a Trump-era rule, is intended to deter illegal crossings and encourage migrants to become eligible for two initiatives the administration announced in January: (1) A sponsorship program that allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to fly to the US each month; (2) A phone app that asylum-seekers in Mexico can use to request entry at southern border ports of entry.
This month, the Biden administration also began a program to expedite initial inspections for asylum seekers when they are subject to standard immigration regulations rather than Title 42. The program's migrants are reportedly interrogated by US asylum authorities over the phone while in Border Patrol custody instead of waiting until they are put in long-term detention.
