(CNN) – When US Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala to early this summer, President Alejandro Gianmattei privately offered him advice on his goal of stemming the flood of hopeful migrants toward the United States border with Mexico.
Be more assertive, Giammattei told him. Send a strong message to immigrants and smugglers, who often reinterpret the ads to use them to their advantage, Giammattei said, according to a senior Guatemalan official who spoke to CNN.
Shortly after the meeting, at a joint press conference, Harris did just that, issuing a stern but clear warning to migrants: “Don’t come.”
But almost two months later, migrants continue to arrive at the US-Mexico border in record numbers, at a time when arrivals tend to decline as a result of the scorching summer heat.
The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, speaks with members of the media upon arrival at the international airport in El Paso, Texas, on the border with Mexico.
Mixed messages
In their effort to distance themselves from former President Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda and strike a note of compassion, Biden officials often sent mixed messages about who is authorized to enter the United States and when. As a result, the border situation continues to be a political drag on the White House, which receives criticism from both the left and the right.
Republicans continue to claim that Biden has a border crisis on his hands that is of his own making, while Democratic progressives have complained that Biden is not moving fast enough to loosen regulations and dismantle Trump-era policies. .
In recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has increased resources and staff in the Rio Grande Valley, which has been overwhelmed by the number of arrivals, deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to assist the Patrol. Border, reinforcing medical personnel and establishing flights to send people to other border sectors for processing.

Migrants who were sent back to Mexico wait in line to receive food and supplies at a camp across the US-Mexico border in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
Record numbers of arrests
Detentions at the border remain at the highest level in decades, reaching a million before the end of the fiscal year. The number of unaccompanied children in US Customs and Border Protection has skyrocketed. Informants have denounced the poor conditions of a temporary center for children that has now also become the subject of a government review. And immigrant advocacy groups have criticized the government’s decision to continue expelling immigrants found at the border.
The Biden government is fighting legal battles on both its left and right flanks. On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union said it was going back to court to challenge the administration’s continued use of a public health authority that allows for the speedy removal of migrants. And last week, the Justice Department challenged an executive order issued by Texas Governor Greg Abbott restricting the transportation of migrants. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order Tuesday.
Balance between safety and compassion
Historically, the United States has resorted to deterrence to prevent people from heading to the US-Mexico border. Biden is intimately familiar with these challenges, having served as vice president during the surge in unaccompanied children in 2014 and previously oversaw efforts to address the root causes of migration in Central America.
But in developing his immigration program, Biden has also had to grapple with the realities of migration and the political hurdles that accompany it, which has at times put his administration on the defensive. In April, for example, amid an influx of migrants at the border, Biden resisted signing the Trump-era refugee limit increase. due to the political climate. Later he increased it.
A White House official rejected the idea that the administration’s message is inconsistent. “We are trying to chart a new path different from the previous administration in having just policies and humane policies, especially in the treatment of people who are undocumented and the treatment of people who are detained,” the official said. “But I don’t think that is in conflict with a well-managed border.”
The White House recently published a document summarizing the steps the government has taken to address immigration and outlining its blueprint “for a just, orderly and humane immigration system.” It includes the reinforcement of public messages to discourage irregular migration and promote legal channels.
“It seemed to me that the plan was one of the first times that an attempt was made to find the balance between safety and compassion,” said Ali Noorani, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.
“The plans are not going to serve to communicate the government’s approach to immigration. For years, if not decades, immigration has been much more of a cultural debate than a political or political debate. And the administration has to find a way to talk about the debate on cultures and values that really drive immigration rhetoric, “he added.
A “communication disaster”
The White House also pushed forward its strategy to address the root causes of migration in Central America, where thousands of migrants are fleeing poverty and violence. Biden commissioned Harris overseeing this effort in March, which resulted in his trip to Guatemala and Mexico over the summer. The strategy committed to investing resources and instilling hope in the region.
Since March, the US has allocated more than US $ 250 million in humanitarian aid, has provided more than 10 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine to the Northern Triangle, and has engaged the private sector to make more investments in the region. .
Although the government says it is working to provide legal avenues of entry into the United States from the region, there are still few options for asylum seekers.

United States President Joe Biden.
“It’s very hard to hear them talk about humanity and, at the same time, see Biden say that people should apply for asylum in the country,” said Taylor Levy, a California-based immigration attorney who works with migrants on the southern border. “It is a communication disaster, in my opinion, in terms of what is being conveyed to asylum seekers and people fleeing violence in their own country.”
Record numbers
Migrants facing deteriorating conditions in their home countries continue to travel to the southern border of the United States. Texas Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who has criticized the administration’s handling of the border, tweeted Monday that the Rio Grande Valley ended last week with 21,921 apprehensions, up from 20,647 arrests the previous week. “Something has to change!” He said.
David Shahoulian, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in a court statement filed Monday that the US is finding “record numbers” of migrants, including families. . Based on preliminary data, CBP likely encountered some 210,000 individuals in July, many of whom are turned away under a Trump-era border policy.
Those who cross repeatedly also tend to make up a significant portion of monthly arrest totals. For example, in June, at least 30% of those apprehended had previously tried to cross the border illegally, according to the White House official.
“We certainly have a challenge at the border,” National Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
Accelerated expulsion
The number of unaccompanied migrant children has also started to rise again after a record number of arrivals earlier this year overwhelmed the facilities. DHS expects the detention of more than 19,000 unaccompanied children in July, a new record. As of August 3, there were 2,498 unaccompanied children in the custody of CBP, a jail-like facility designed for adults, not children.
In a sign of the Biden administration’s caution regarding migrants, including asylum seekers, traveling to the southern border of the United States, DHS announced last week that resumed an expedited deportation procedure for migrants.
From now on, some families will be subject to the procedure known as “expedited removal,” which allows immigration authorities to remove a person without the need for a hearing before an immigration judge. The procedure will apply to families who are not promptly evicted under a border policy related to the pandemic. On Friday, 73 people were removed on “expedited removal” flights, according to a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Service.
“I think Biden is doing a great job on the economy. We’re going to do a great job on transportation and other things,” Cuellar previously told CNN, who also asked Biden to create a senior post focused on the border. “But on immigration, they are not doing a good job on immigration.”
The “Biden Border Crisis,” According to Republicans
Republicans have blamed the president’s policies for driving migration, dubbing it the “Biden border crisis.” “The Biden border crisis is spiraling out of control. It is a national security crisis. A public health crisis. A humanitarian crisis.” tweeted the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Institute for Migration Policy, praised the administration’s actions on a number of other immigration issues, such as reducing the scope of immigration law enforcement, ending travel bans, and issuance of visas, and the expansion of a form of humanitarian aid known as Temporary Protected Status.
“In the middle, what is being lost is an extraordinary set of achievements that the Joe Biden administration has been able to implement without much fanfare and without taking much credit for it,” he said.
Biden also introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill shortly after taking office. Although that bill hasn’t gained much momentum, Biden supported the inclusion of immigration policy in its multi-million dollar anti-poverty package, assuring a group of legislators that it would support them in their quest to secure a path to citizenship for millions of people.
But this initiative, like the series of immigration policy changes that preceded it, will also have its own challenges.
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