The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will be indefinitely extending the public health order to restrict the country’s borders to unauthorized migrants, including asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors, during the coronavirus epidemic.
“The move by the Trump administration to restrict border crossings is actually an excellent step toward securing our borders,” Robin Hvidston, Executive Director for We The People Rising and State Coordinator for The Remembrance Project, said. “in the effort to protect public health, a side effect is that there is now a new push to enforce immigration laws, resulting in a more secure border.”
The drop in border crossings that end in encounters with border agents is significant.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection year end statistics have shown a huge decrease in border apprehensions. For example, the April 2019 year end total of family unit border encounters with border patrol agents in the Rio Grande sector was 101,851 but for that same period in April 2020, the total number of encounters was 8,956.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions#
“People should respect the laws of the United States and should enter and reside legally in this great nation,” Hvidston said. “It has taken a pandemic for our country to enforce our U.S. border laws. There is talk of a ‘new normal’ once the coronavirus emergency ends. Hopefully, the ‘new normal’ will include this continued enforcement of federal immigration laws and, therefore, a more secure border.”
We The People Rising and associates have organized an online campaign to thank President Trump and his administration for extending border restriction.
We The People Rising
Agree 100% this is one post-pandemic change that I welcome!