Even during Trump’s administration, the southern border migrant crisis persisted, prompting calls for the construction of a wall. Biden had great expectations for 2023, thinking that the migrant crisis would end or at least slow down, but it appears that this problem would persist into 2024.
The American administration was alarmed after an astounding record of over 250,000 immigrants crossed the Southern border in December of 2022. In January, Biden made the decision to declare further steps to aid increase border control and to request additional assistance with financing and immigration reform.
Adding a program that would send 30,000 people to the US each month to be properly documented and brought into the country legally was one of the major things he changed. At the time, Biden said that while this would help, it would not solve the border control issue.
His border control methods caused a great deal of controversy when COVID struck. At this point, chaos persisted despite a decline in the number of cases that were recorded; there were still over 10,000 interactions every day.
There was a decline in numbers between May and June of 2021, and it was said that Biden’s tactics were effective. That was progress, as the figures were the lowest since 2020.
At a July House hearing, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated, “Our approach to managing the borders securely and humanely even within our fundamentally broken immigration system is working.” “Unlawful entries between ports of entry along the southwest border have consistently decreased by more than half compared to the peak before the end of Title 42.”
Things started to change in August 2021, and the numbers began to soar once more, reaching 232,000 and, in the end, 240,000 in October.
The government has faced numerous challenges as it works to support cities that are overrun with immigrants in addition to trying to resolve the issue at the border. The government has provided ample resources and financing to enable this rise, but many have called for even more.
While the White House has requested an additional $14 billion in funds to aid with border control, some Republicans have persisted in advocating for a modification of the asylum caps.
The White House is debating potential courses of action and ways to lessen the border crisis, and it has stated that it is open to “significant compromises” in order to maintain control over the Southern border.
Hopefully, a deal would be reached before the Christmas break, but as of yet, none has been identified.
