President Biden's pledge of a more humane approach has sparked a new rush to the border, threatening to become a huge political liability
Credit: GUILLERMO ARIAS /AFP
In February, detentions topped 100,000 — a 28 per cent increase on the previous month, and March is on track for an even larger number, with border patrol figures showing more than 4,000 people are apprehended each day.
Mr Biden has sought help from Mexico to curb the numbers. The country has stepped up immigration raids in recent weeks, rounding up Central American migrants making their way through Mexico to reach the US.
But the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has also expressed concern that Mr Biden’s rhetoric has encouraged migration and put a burden on Mexico.
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“They see him as the migrant president,” he said of Central Americans travelling through earlier this month.
Jim Darling, the mayor of McAllen, another border town near Brownsville, agrees Mr Biden’s rhetoric has contributed to the current surge.
“Biden says ‘it’s gonna be great’… and so [people thought] ok you better get over because this guy is really going to give us everything. That was the impression from the president,” he said.
Mr Darling said the influx has caught the Biden administration unprepared, but he is keen to stress that his city is rising to meet the challenge.
US / Mexico border
"It may be a catastrophe or whatever they’re calling it on the river, for sure. It may not be the most pleasant thing in the detention centre, and it sure is a catastrophe in Washington they can’t solve this problem after all these times. But my city, we’re safe, we’re a humanitarian city. We’re not encouraging it, but when they land in our city we’re going to do the right thing," he said.
Like other border towns, McAllen has seen a significant increase in crossings in recent weeks. From the town’s southern perimeter — the Rio Grande river — locals can sit and watch families picnicking in the neighbouring Mexican city of Reynosa.
But they must contend with the noise of border patrol helicopters flying overhead, searching for illegal immigrants who risk crossing the river to reach the US.
On a recent visit, one border patrol agent told The Telegraph three separate groups had been apprehended attempting to cross the Rio Grande before the sun had fully risen.
At the Junkyard Bar, which sits along the US border wall, one staff member said she regularly finds between 12 and 15 illegal immigrants in the bar when she arrives in the mornings.
Local Cesar Marroquin argued that the border wall is largely ineffective at curbing illegal immigration
Credit: Dermot Tatlow /Gilbert LLP
“They use the bathroom and sometimes they sleep under the bar,” she said. “They’re usually young men and mostly they are Nicaraguans, not Mexicans.” She suspects people smugglers are ferrying the groups across the nearby Rio Grande.
Another local, Cesar Marroquin, a retiree, argued that the border wall, which lies beyond the river, is largely ineffective at curbing illegal immigration.
But Mr Marroquin said a bigger problem is the fact that those crossing illegally are often simply released by border agents with a promise to appear in immigration court at a later date.
“People have this image of people going through the brush and hiding, no, they’re right there,” he said, pointing out of his back garden towards the river. “They wait for the border patrol to pick them up. That’s a law that has to change. Most people don’t understand that.”
But at the Brownsville bus station, many of the migrants waiting to join friends and family in other parts of the US say their hopes for the future are built on gaining the right to live and work in the country.
Maria Antonia, an asylum seeker from Honduras, said she left two children, aged 10 and 16
Credit: Dermot Tatlow /Gilbert LLP
Maria Antonia, an asylum seeker from Honduras, said she left two children, aged 10 and 16, at home with her mother in the hope of improving her fortunes.
She and her two-year-old daughter came across the Rio Grande on a raft with the help of a group of fellow travellers.
She broke into tears as she described the moment in the journey she feared her little girl would not survive. “Thank God I was able to do it,” she said.
Ricardo Gomez, who is in his mid-30s, crossed into the US with his wife and two-year-old daughter after 22 days on the road from Nicaragua.
"Some days we walked, some days we took a bus, some days we hitchhiked," he said.
He was assaulted by a gang along the way, and went without food for most of the trip, but having made it this far he intends to head next to Miami, where his in-laws live.
"It’s my first time trying something like this so I’m just hopeful to see how this country is going to treat me," he said.
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