TIJUANA, Mexico – A Biden administration policy restricting asylum seekers at the southern border is taking fire from all sides.
The Biden administration has called it a success, even though a federal judge recently ruled against it.
Meanwhile, migrants and Border Patrol officers claim a key component of the policy has become a tool for scammers.
Since Title 42 ended in May, the Biden administration has taken credit for an unexpected drop in illegal border crossings.
“After Title 42 was lifted, we actually saw the numbers go down,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “We actually saw the president’s plan working.”
“We have seen since the end of Title 42 and approximately 65 percent drop in the number of people encountered at our Southern Border,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Here in Tijuana, however, the policy requiring migrants to be pre-cleared to enter the US has led to misery and chaos.
“Basically the CBP app has been like a smokescreen that has been created. And ultimately a lot of people are taking advantage of this CBP app,” said Oscar Ramirez, a Mexican journalist. “There has been a lot of corruption and all these kinds of situations with the CBP app, but it drags a lot of the migrants to cross through this application.”
“A lot of them, they get in easily, but a lot of them, they get returned back and then they intend again to go back again to the United States,” Ramirez said.
“My little buddy here is from Haiti. But most of the migrants in this shelter come from Mexico, and they probably have the best chance of anybody of actually making it a valid asylum claim in the United States,” Holton said as he walked through a shelter in Tijuana. “In the meantime, they’re stuck here for months and sometimes longer, but they’re doing their own work. The migrants are building on to the shelter, making more housing.”
“The women here are doing the cooking and cooking for each other. But the real question is how long will it take them to get into the U.S.? And that comes down to waiting for their chance to get into the United States using the CBP One App,” he added.
Unfortunately, the app has spawned a new brand of scammer.
“The problem right now is that a whole bunch of different organizations and people have found a way how to get through the CBP One App and they’re charging some kind of money for immigrants,” said Albert Rivera, pastor of the World Agape Mission in Tijuana. “And so, there’s like some kind of special codes that there is that they get automatic appointments. They’re in there and they’re promising immigrants you give them you give us $200 and I will cross you in two, three days guaranteed.”
“Immigrants were giving $1,000, $1,500 dollars, $500 and just put me in front of the line and let me cross and everything,” he said.
People here say the new system leaves too many in limbo while allowing too many in who have been previously deported.
“There’s a lot of people that have been kicked out, deported or returned back from the United States and they’re intending now to come back through this CBP app,” Ramirez explained. “So CBP has been an option, a smokescreen of an option for people that are actually inadmissible to go back into the United States of America.”
Similar stories are emerging along the Texas border.
“We encountered a group of 11 legal immigrants that just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico. They’re all from Venezuela. We also came across a mother and child from Guatemala,” said Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez.
“Their frustrations are that the CBP One app was not working. I asked them, Why don’t you go to a port of entry? Why don’t you use the CBP One App? And they say they’ve been waiting in Mexico for months and waiting for an appointment for months. And the CBP One App was not working, they tried it both in English and Spanish, and it’s not working,” Olivarez said.
While a federal judge blocked the current rule for the time being, the rules change so frequently, it’s unlikely the chaos here on the border will subside anytime soon.
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