Migrants wait at the US-Mexico border, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

The border crisis is growing day by day. The arrival of undocumented migrants at the US southern border broke all records last yearand this year has been an upward trend.

While much of the rhetoric during the campaign for the presidency of Joe Biden was a criticism of the harshness of the immigration policies of the donald trumpthe reality is that the large number of people arriving in the United States has also led the Democratic administration to crack down.

FILE PICTURE. Migrants seeking asylum walk past a barbed wire fence as members of the Texas National Guard stand guard on the banks of the Rio Grande, the US-Mexico border, in an effort to bolster border security and prevent the passage of migrants to the United States, from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
FILE PICTURE. Migrants seeking asylum walk past a barbed wire fence as members of the Texas National Guard stand guard on the banks of the Rio Grande, the US-Mexico border, in an effort to bolster border security and prevent the passage of migrants to the United States, from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

According to several sources close to the US Department of Immigration, President Biden will announce new measures in the coming weeks to try to stem the flow of undocumented migrants arriving at the country’s southern border.

The first announcement would be that No one can apply for political asylum in the country if he has not already applied for asylum in other countries in which time has passed since he left his country of origin. In other words, someone who leaves Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela, and passes through countries like Mexico before arriving in the United States, must seek asylum in Mexico before they can apply for it in the States -United.

The second change will be installation of more telephone booths in detention centers for migrants. The purpose of these phones is that telephone interviews can be conducted between migrants and immigration officials to decide at the time whether the asylum case presents a credible fear (For a request for political asylum to be considered, the migrant must demonstrate a credible fear in his country of origin).

Several human rights organizations have said that these measures go against the rights of migrants and are very similar to measures imposed by the Trump administration. The Secretary of National Security himself, Alexander Mayorkasdenied that his measures resemble those of Trump.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“This is not a Trump-era policy. This is not a traffic ban. We provided a legal pathway for people to enter the United States.”Secretary Mayorkas said in an interview with MSNBC.

The legal route Mayorkas was referring to is the one announced on January 5 that allows the monthly entry of 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua (the four countries from which the largest number of asylum seekers come to the United States). As noted, the new measures would not increase the number of asylums offered today, a fact that has been criticized by many as insufficient.

On the other hand, the Biden administration is also being criticized for failing to tighten border security, a fact that worries many Americans.

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