Mexico Wearing Down Migrants as New Tactic to Deter Immigration Amid Biden Crackdown
Mexico has been employing a new tactic to deter migrants from going into the US-Mexico border as the Biden administration has begun its controversial border crackdown while also pressuring Mexico and other countries along the migration route to help deter people from coming in.
Many of these migrants usually come from Venezuela, either fleeing the oppressive Maduro regime or flying to Caracas from other countries outside the Americas to find a better life in the US. Often, they go through rebel-controlled territories and treacherous jungles, many of them robbed or raped. However, these often do not deter them from their goal.
Mexico now wants to frustrate these migrants even further to deter them, and this may be working as many of the frustrated migrants would admit they would rather go through the dangerous Darien Gap again rather than go through Mexico.
"I would rather cross the Darien Gap 10,000 times than cross Mexico," one Venezuelan migrant, Yeneska Garcia, told the Associated Press as she sat in a migrant shelter. She crossed the Darien Gap and arrived in Mexico, where she narrowly survived being kidnapped by a Mexican cartel.
However, when she finally arrived at the US-Mexico border and tried to cross, she was captured and deported back to Mexico. After being deported, Mexican authorities then bused her back to southern Mexico, near the Mexico-Guatemala border, where she had to make her treacherous trek north all over again.
This tactic of wearing migrants out until they give up is a result of Mexico being pressured by the Biden administration even though the country lacks the funding to actually deport these migrants back to their home countries. However, with Biden and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador currently working on a deal to deport migrants from select countries in the works, many of these migrants would soon find themselves back at the starting point.
READ MORE: Joe Biden Border Clampdown Sees Less and Less Migrants Trying to Cross the Border Since Roll Out
US Looking to Latin American Allies To Help Curtail Migrants Amid New Biden Crackdown
It is not just Mexico that the Biden administration is trying to work with, but also other Central and South American countries such as El Salvador.
In addition to the restrictive new border measures it has implemented, the Biden administration is also trying to have deals with countries along the migration route to stem the flow of migrants arriving in Mexico As NPR noted, the new Biden policy would not work that well if it did not have the cooperation of Mexico.
US Has Begun Deporting Migrants Back to Mexico Under New Biden Crackdown
Over in the US, the deportations have begun as migrants who illegally cross the US-Mexico border are deported back to Mexico immediately and would not have the chance to declare that they are seeking asylum.
So far, the number of migrant encounters by Border Patrol has gone down, but it is still unclear if this will continue in the long run. However, Time Magazine has pointed out that some migrants are not deterred at all, as the new provisions still allowed people who look genuinely scared to be deported back to their home countries to be able to apply for asylum, albeit under stricter screening methods.
READ MORE: Joe Biden Begins Deportations Along US-Mexico Border; Migrants Rattled and Unsure
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: President Biden's sweeping changes going into effect at the southern border - ABC News
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