The United States today they developed more than 25,000 policemans and military on the border with Mexico, while at the same time they also adopted new restrictions on the right to asylum, a few hours before the lifting of a measure that had been taken during the pandemic and which allowed the immediate repatriation of irregular immigrants crossing the country’s land borders.

Anticipating an influx of migrants to the border, Democratic President Joe Biden admitted late Tuesday night that the situation will become “chaotic” when so-called “Title 42” expires at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Washington time. This measure was taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and allowed the US authorities to immediately readmit all immigrants, including asylum seekers. In the last three years it was used 2.8 million times.

As the measure’s expiration draws near, border cities like Brownsville and El Paso have seen many would-be immigrants arrive in the area, mostly from Latin America but also from China, Russia or Turkey. In El Paso, hundreds of people are sleeping on the streets, lying on cardboard or with sheets spread out to protect them from the sun, while some children are begging. Mayor Oscar Leeser expects a surge of 12,000-15,000 people by the end of the week.

To help local authorities, the federal government announced today that more than 24,000 law enforcement officers will be deployed, as well as 1,100 border patrol “coordinators”. They do not count the 1,500 soldiers mobilized by the Ministry of Defense to reinforce the 2,500 already at the border.

At the same time, the ministries of Justice and Homeland Security finalized the new restrictions regarding the right to asylum. These measures were announced in February and will be implemented from midnight tomorrow. So, before showing up at the border, asylum seekers (excluding unaccompanied minors) will now have to make an appointment through a phone app or have been denied asylum in one of the countries they passed through on their way to the US . If they did not seek protection in another country before arriving in the US, or if they did not use a legal method to enter the country, their application will be considered unlawful and they may be deported and barred from entering the US for five years.

The new restrictions will apply to the vast majority of non-Mexican immigrants, who typically pass through multiple countries to reach the US.

Repatriation flights are thus expected to increase – for some destinations they will double or even triple. They will create 7,000 new places in the detention centers so that immigrants are not “lost” in the country while they wait for their application to be processed.

To encourage legal immigration, Washington plans to open about a hundred “regional processing centers” outside the country, where the files of prospective immigrants will be reviewed. The first centers will operate in Colombia and Guatemala.

These changes have created confusion for those who had pinned their hopes on the American dream. “We don’t know what’s going on,” said Mitchell, a Venezuelan who spoke to AFP from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just 300 meters from the border. “They are unable to present us with an option that would give us a good chance of getting in” to the US, he added, visibly stressed.

The new regulations have been sharply criticized by immigrant rights groups, which accuse Biden of pursuing an immigration policy similar to that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. On the other hand, Republicans, angry with the repeal of “Title 42”, accuse the Democratic president of “relaxation” and of turning the border into a “colander”. The 80-year-old president is trying to keep the balance, alternating the message of decisive action against irregular immigration with that of humanity. At the same time, his government grants 30,000 additional visas each month to people from Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala and Haiti.