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The Biden administration announced Monday that it reached agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to mobilize thousands of military and police in order to easen the current border crisis, which reached record levels in March. This announcement effectively means a return to the Trump border policy.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration negotiated with representatives of those three countries, who “committed to increasing security” at their respective borders, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki at her daily press conference.
“Mexico made the decision to maintain 10,000 troops on its southern border, which doubles the interdiction of migrants,” said Psaki.
“Guatemala increased by 1,500 police and military personnel on its southern border with Honduras, and agreed to establish twelve checkpoints along the migratory route; while Honduras assigned 7,000 police and military personnel to disperse a large contingent of migrants,” she added.
The objective, the spokeswoman added, is to “make the journey (to the United States) and border crossing more difficult” for the undocumented migrants making the difficult journey.
The measure taken by the current administration imitates the Trump border policy, which was panned by Democrats and Biden himself for his measures to curb illegal migration.
Last week, the government revealed record numbers of arrests of undocumented immigrants at its border with Mexico, with more than 172,000 in the month of March, including almost 19,000 minors, an all-time record.
Biden’s administration has been criticized because many minors who have crossed the border have overstayed the time allowed by law in detention centers run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which are not designed for children.
