According to BuzzFeed News, the Biden administration will resume flying Central American families who have illegally entered the country to areas near the border that make it easier to expel them to Mexico.This effort shows that Mexico is open to taking families from certain areas of the border who have been turned around by US border agents in a Trump-era policy. Families from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, also known as the Northern Triangle, are transported from one border location to El Paso or San Diego, where officials can turn around up to 100 people per day.Families from the Northern Triangle are seeing the return of flights months after advocates for immigrants said that the process only added to the trauma of expulsions into Mexico. As families believed they were allowed to remain in the US, they were instead turned around to Mexico. CBS News reported in May that so-called "lateral flights" had been suspended by the Department of Homeland Security.The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.As it battles the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the US, the Biden administration has become more concerned about the large number of illegal immigrants crossing the border. David Shahoulian (a senior DHS official) told a federal judge that July saw the Department of Homeland Security encounter approximately 210,000 people, the highest monthly total since 2000. Shahoulian said that July likely saw a record number unaccompanied child encounters and the second highest number of family unit encounters.The Rio Grande Valley has felt the effects of the increase in population. Shahoulian stated that the Rio Grande Valley's capacity to hold people was stretched. This filing was made as part of the Trump-era policy of continuing to expel immigrants at the southern border. It has resulted in tens of thousands of people being expelled from their homes and those seeking protection.Continue the storyBorder officials have been using Title 42, a section in the public health code, to turn back immigrant at the border since March 2020 to stop the spread of coronavirus. Prior to Title 42, immigrants could claim the fear of being deported to their home countries.Overcrowding can hinder DHS' ability to efficiently execute its core public health mitigation activities and countermeasures. Shahoulian stated this week that higher levels of COVID-19 transmission in DHS facilities could hinder the Departments ability use the facility's maximum capacity. This would further lower the processing and holding capacities along the southwest border.DHS officials stated that the US is also planning to fly those who have been expelled under Title 42 into south Mexico as a way of combating people who cross the border frequently. The news was first reported by Reuters on Thursday.After Mexican officials passed a law banning undocumented immigrants from being detained in their detention centres, the number of families who cross the southern border has increased. They were unable to keep the families in US facilities and Mexico refused to take them back so they were released to Texas border cities.Biden stated in April that he was meeting with Mexico's president to resolve the matter.He said that he believes that we will see that that can change. He also stated that all families should be returning and that unaccompanied children would be the exception.For several months, the ACLU was in negotiations with the US government over the blocking of Title 42's use against families. Six families fled their home countries in search of safety in the US. The ACLU represents them. These negotiations ended this week, and the lawsuit will resume.The group claims that the policy would have allowed the families to seek asylum at the border before it was implemented. To be eligible for protections screening, families and immigrants at the border must state that they fear being tortured in their homeland under Title 42.Learn more about immigration
