Migration to the USA: Crisis at the southern border worsens

In December, 302,000 people crossed the southern border into the USA, 250,000 of them beyond the official crossings – more than ever before. A “disaster,” according to Republicans. They rely on restrictions in the election campaign.

“Never before in history have there been as many illegal border crossings as there were last month,” complains Mike Johnson, the newly appointed speaker of the US House of Representatives, “a catastrophe.” Johnson visited the border with a delegation of party friends – in Texas, in Eagle Pass. The incumbent president alone is to blame for the “border disaster”.

In fact, the situation in the border area has demonstrably worsened since Joe Biden took office: According to statistics from the Border Protection Agency, around 1.9 million people attempted to immigrate to the USA from Mexico in 2021. A year later there were a good 2.7 million and then, in 2023, over 3.2 million.

In conversation with the migrants, the mayor of the Texas border town of Eagle Pass, Rolando Salinas, learned that most of the border crossers felt invited. “We have to make it clear to them that laws apply here and that you can’t just cross the border river illegally,” demands Mayor Salinas.

Targeted disinformation

Terence Garrett is a political scientist at the University of Texas Rio in Texas and researches migration policy. He confirms that people smuggling organizations in Latin American countries are conducting targeted disinformation and making people believe that with the end of the restrictive Trump era, the southern border would be open. “This is particularly important when people have lost their livelihoods after natural disasters.”

Earthquakes like those in Haiti, destructive hurricanes and other extreme weather events are increasing, as is political instability in many Latin American countries. At the same time, the drug cartels have professionalized another lucrative business area with human smuggling.

Support for the wall is growing

In response, the Republicans in Congress are pushing for significant tightening: a return to Trump’s construction of the wall, more consistent deportations, including of entire families, and tougher asylum requirements. However, President Biden rejects this. “Making maximum demands is not a solution,” says Biden.

“Then we’ll just have to wait for the presidential election and hope for Trump’s election victory,” said Representative Jim Jordan in Eagle Pass, “and with it the return of a border policy that worked.”

There seems to be an appetite for this: According to CNN polls in 2017, only 38 percent of Americans thought Trump’s building a wall was a good idea. Today it is 52 percent – more than half.