WASHINGTON (AP/National News) – U.S. President Joe Biden was scheduled to the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, his first trip there as president after two years of hounding by Republicans who have hammered him as soft on border security while the number of migrants crossing spirals.
Hundreds of protesters rallied on the streets of El Paso ahead of Biden’s visit to the border city in Texas.
Chanting “we want immigration reform,” they filed from a small concrete park nestled in the shadow of the rust-colored fence separating the U.S. from Mexico to a church where hundreds of migrants have camped out as they try to navigate the asylum process.
Many were too scared to stray more than a few meters from a church, where they had claimed sanctuary, for fear U.S. immigration agents might arrest them.
Among the marchers was a county commissioner and members of the advocacy group Border Network for Human Rights. They are calling on Biden to rescind his expansion of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that lets the U.S. Border Patrol turn asylum seekers away.
The program was enacted as a health emergency policy under the Trump administration but has also been used by the Biden administration to block asylum seekers hoping to enter the U.S.
Biden announced a new, multifaceted approach to immigration along the southern border on Thursday, which in part would include an expansion of Title 42 measures.
Under the new guidelines, migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti will have an expanded legal pathway to apply for entry into the U.S. if they pass background checks and have a financial sponsor in America.
A record 2.4 million migrants crossed into the U.S. during the last fiscal year, which ended in September, overwhelming the Border Patrol.
El Paso, which neighbors the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, has received the bulk of recent migrants, forcing it to declare a state of emergency in December.
Shelters have been overflowing, with many migrants now sleeping on the streets.