Way up north . . .
We’re going north
The rush is on
— Johnny Horton
The rush is on northward for the world’s excess, attempting to get through the porous Biden-Harris southern border before it is closed down, as former President and current President-Elect Donald Trump has vowed to do.
NBC News reported yesterday that the administration is preparing for a migrant surge that may already have begun. According to their report, on Monday afternoon, before the election, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a virtual meeting with the heads of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At that meeting, the participants raised concerns about what a possible Trump victory would mean.
Mayorkas’s border brain trust agreed that a surge is not underway yet, but they expect one may materialize if migrants become anxious that their dreams of illegal entry into the US may be at risk.
After the election outcome was announced, NBC says migrant-smuggling cartels began advertising their services on WhatsApp, declaring, “The time to come to the U.S. is now.”
“After the 21 of January [Trump will] close the borders with extreme security,” said one person on WhatsApp on Wednesday morning. Another said, “There’s not a lot of [time] left. He has the decrees already in his mind.”
Gustavo Banda, the operator of a shelter in Tijuana, said: “Of course, the coyotes will arrive, they are going to say that they need to get in before Donald Trump arrives.”
Francisco Loureiro, who operates a shelter in Nogales, said, “We have migrants who are worried, who don’t know what is going to happen now with their [CBP ONE] appointment.” Referring to the caravan of migrants that recently left Tapachula and have already made their way to the northern part of Mexico, Loureiro said he and his shelter were ready for a surge.
Meanwhile, Trump has said, “I’m going to inform [the Mexican president] on day one or sooner that if they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the United States of America.”
For more, see NBC News.