A large group of migrants were seen at the U.S.-Mexico border south of California on Tuesday wearing T-shirts that featured President Joe Biden’s campaign logo along with the words, “PLEASE LET US IN!”
Photographs of the group were taken on the Mexican side near the San Ysidro crossing location in Tijuana, Baja California state.
During their demonstration, the group of migrants took a knee while urging the president to continue easing immigration policies and allow more immigrants to enter the United States.
In February, the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security announced a plan to begin processing an estimated 25,000 asylum-seekers who were forced to “remain in Mexico” under former President Donald Trump and release them into the U.S.
The administration said that on Feb. 19, it would start “phase one of a program to restore safe and orderly processing at the southwest border.” Although the administration did not reveal which cities the migrants would be released to, Rep. Henry Cuellar later said the migrants would be released in Brownsville and El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, Calif.
According to The Associated Press, the department’s phase one was expected to start slowly, processing roughly 300 people per day at two border crossings and fewer at a third crossing.
The DHS’ statement said the new process applies to individuals who were returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program and have cases pending before the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Earlier this week, Biden told reporters he learned “a lot” after receiving a briefing about the border.
He refused to characterize the overwhelming number of migrants at the border as a “crisis” despite one administration official having called it that. A reporter asked Biden on Tuesday if there was a crisis at the border, to which he responded, “No, we’ll be able to handle it.”
Congress introduced a sweeping immigration bill in February modeled from Biden’s plan outlined on his website. The bill is designed to give millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. an eight-year path to citizenship, in addition to providing those who illegally entered the country as children a quicker route to citizenship.
In their respective Congressional chambers, Democrats Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Linda Sanchez introduced a bill identical to Biden’s US Citizenship Act of 2021 unveiled by the White House on Jan. 20.
The bill cuts the time to secure citizenship from 13 years to just eight. To be eligible, illegal immigrants would be required to have entered the country prior to January 1, 2021.
