Each day in May, on average, 165 Brazilians were barred from trying to enter the US irregularly via Mexico, maintaining an uptrend that has gained strength since March. The total of seizures last month, 5,118, was almost four times higher than in March (1,346), but down from the 10,471 recorded in September last year, according to the CBP (Department of Border Control).
“The reason most people hear in interviews with Brazilian immigrants who arrive in the US is the Brazilian economy, due to high inflation and stagnant wages,” says Gabrielle Oliveira, a professor at Harvard University and an immigration researcher. “Many of them say they see no prospect of improvement in Brazil, regardless of who is elected president in October.”
The increase in Brazilians detained is part of a record number of immigrants trying to enter the US. The total number of people barred at the border has been above 200,000 a month since March. In May, it reached 239,000, the highest monthly figure ever recorded — double what was seen in 2021. This rise has several reasons: if many Latin American countries face economic crises, the US has jobs to spare; another point is the perception that Joe Biden would be more tolerant of immigration than Donald Trump.
For Oliveira, the case released on Monday (27), when at least 51 people, probably undocumented immigrants, were found dead in and around a truck in San Antonio, Texas, shows that the border remains very difficult to cross. , even under Democratic command.
“The more guarded the border is, the more people will seek this type of entry, super risky. People are coming [Ã fronteira] and being refused, which increases the desperation to enter. We will see more people hiding in vehicles, dying from dehydration and high temperatures”, says the researcher.
Felipe Alexandre, a lawyer at AG Immigration, on the other hand, says that conditions have gotten a little better under the Biden administration. “We have seen changes in immigration courts. Now, prosecutors have more power to help, such as agreeing in court with the defense of the immigrant [para que ele fique no paÃs]. Before, they had their hands fully tied.”
The Trump administration, which made the fight against irregular immigration a flag, created measures to make it difficult for foreigners to enter. Many of them are still in force, such as Title 42, which allows agents to bar asylum requests at the border and send applicants away to await the result of the request in another country, under the justification of risk to public health. The rule was created in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
US law authorizes foreigners to apply for asylum in the US if they are persecuted in their countries for political, religious, national and ethnic reasons, but the way these requests are handled can vary widely. If the traveler arrives at the border post and asks for asylum, they will likely be instructed to wait for a response in Mexico, as part of the Title 42 measure procedures.
If the foreigner crosses the border irregularly and surrenders on American soil, the agent who makes the capture has the power to decide whether to send the immigrant for deportation or to a court that will analyze the asylum application. “It depends a lot on which agent the person found that day”, says Alexandre.
If immigration authorities agree to open an asylum review process, foreigners can stay in the US while waiting for an answer, which takes an average of six to eight years to be given. In the waiting period, immigrants can apply for a work permit after a few months and thus begin to settle in the country while waiting for the final response.
One measure discussed by the Biden administration is to speed up the processing of asylum processes, in order to respond in less than a year. Thus, there would be lower chances of the applicant staying for years in the country, which would discourage migrations of those who do not fit the asylum categories.
However, experts point out that the debate on these measures could be triggers to stimulate migration, for fear that changes in the rules will make the process more difficult in the future.
