The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has sent to Congress this Friday a bill valued at 2 billion dollars (1.6 billion euros) with which to address the migration crisis on the southern border with Mexico, the Office of Administration and Budget (OMB) of the White House.
The proposal, which is part of the fiscal budget for the year 2022, contains an item of 861 million dollars (723 million euros) to “address the root causes of migration from Central America” ​​and thereby try to “reduce requests for asylum “.
This amount represents the “first step” towards fulfilling its electoral promise to invest 4,000 million dollars (3,300 million euros) over the next four years “as part of a comprehensive strategy”, with which Washington intends that Central American governments “provide more services and more security” to their population.
The United States aspires to tackle the problem of the migratory crisis, which only in the last one has caused the highest numbers of arrests at the border in the last two decades to be registered, more than 172,300, and on the way to surpass the 977,000 that They occurred during Donald Trump’s last year in the Banking House.
The text also includes a 21 percent increase in the budget for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, investing 891 million dollars (almost 750 million euros) in the hiring of new judges and support teams to avoid judicial delays and in administration.
Finally, President Biden also hopes with the approval of Congress to give the green light to 345 million dollars (about 290 million euros) for the Citizenship and Immigration Services, in charge of the asylum requests and the nationalizations that have been pending. during years.
The arrival of migrants to the southern border has skyrocketed in March, according to the latest report from the US Customs and Border Protection Office. The more than 172,300 people represent an increase of 71 percent over the previous month and one of the highest levels in two decades.
Among migrants, the high number of unaccompanied minors stands out, specifically 18,890, which is double that of February 2021 and breaks the monthly record after 11,861 recorded in May 2019.
