Tens of thousands of Mexican family members crossed the southern border in recent months, soaring past previous levels. President Biden’s decisions to end migrant family detention and launch an app for people to schedule legal border crossings have likely contributed to drawing more Mexican families.
At the same time, increased displacement in parts of Mexico, largely fueled by cartel violence, is likely pushing people to leave. Governance concerns, poverty and watching other migrants take their chances at the U.S. are all probable factors for the rise. But so is the new CBP one app. “When you open legal pathways, folks will take them,” Ramon said.
The vast majority of migrants who enter the country via the app are released into the U.S. on parole, which lets them get a work permit in roughly six weeks and legally stay in the country for up to two years. Parole does not guarantee a long-term pathway for staying in the U.S.
Between the lines: While the app creates a more orderly, legal way for migrants and asylum seekers to enter the U.S., Mexican families are also crossing the border illegally. More than 10,000 Mexican family members were apprehended by Border Patrol after illegally crossing in July.
For context, just 6,000 Mexican family members crossed in the entire fiscal year 2019, which saw crisis levels of family migration under Trump.
The Trump administration responded to large numbers of families crossing the border with the infamous, though short-lived, family separation policy.
News about U.S. policies is known to spread quickly word of mouth among smugglers and migrants — including those families who cross illegally are often released into the U.S. with a notice to appear in court.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Monday that migration patterns are complicated, and that one challenge is that “smuggling organizations see what we do, and they alter their practices in an effort to circumvent what we established.” Another factor is Title 42, the pandemic policy that for years allowed border officials to rapidly expel migrants at the border — but with few other consequences.
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