Border strains leave Biden promise fraying

Substantive changes

One of the most substantive changes in border policy under Biden has been a shift in how the government deals with migrant families.

Trump implemented a zero-tolerance policy, which caused thousands of family separations. In many cases, migrant parents were deported to their home countries without their children. Biden has reversed that practice, allowing entry to unaccompanied minors and some families.

The demographics of migrants encountered at the southern border have evolved, from Mexican single adults to families and children from the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to a growing number of people from other countries, like Haiti.

In September, 15,000 Haitians made it from Mexico to the Texas border city of Del Rio. The US deported thousands of them to Haiti. The mass expulsions and the treatment of some migrants at the border led to sharp criticism of the Biden administration, also from fellow Democrats.

The economic, social and political instability in those countries likely played a role in the spike in encounters at the Mexican border. Haiti, for example, has faced many challenges, ranging from natural disasters to the assassination of a president in July last year.

Biden's proposal to reform the country's immigration system, including offering legal status to an estimated 11 million undocumented people, is also blamed by conservatives for encouraging migrants.

Senior officials, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, have traveled to Central America as part of their efforts to tackle the root causes of the migration.

To would-be migrants, Harris said: "Do not come."

She made the point at a news conference after meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei in June. She said the Biden administration wants "to help Guatemalans find hope at home".

The administration has proposed to give $4 billion to Central American countries over four years to aid their economies. Meanwhile, the US is running more than 30,000 radio advertisements a month in Central America to deter people from making the journey.

While trying to distance itself from Trump's presidency, the Biden administration has kept a Trumpera emergency policy to automatically expel migrants seeking entry.

Under the policy, known as Title 42, which is aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 in holding facilities, the administration continues to rapidly expel most people encountered at the border except unaccompanied children and some families.