Migrants amass on Mexico-US border as health policy to expire

Hundreds of migrants amassed Wednesday on the Mexican border, waiting for the expiry next week of a Covid-19 health measure that automatically blocks asylum seekers from entering the United States.

Long lines of migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, and elsewhere in Latin America began forming on Sunday in freezing temperatures, in the hopes of being allowed to seek asylum in the United States.

"We are seeing hundreds of people who are very cold, do not have food, and are trying to warm themselves a bit," said Fernando Garcia of the NGO Border Network for Human Rights.

The unusual influx comes after a US federal judge in November ruled that the government could no longer use the controversial public health rules under Title 42 to block the entry of asylum seekers.

The measure, originally placed on the books in the 19th century to control contagious diseases, allows for the immediate removal of any foreigner or non-resident trying to enter the country without a visa.

It has been used to expel hundreds of thousands of people since being invoked by former president Donald Trump in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has been criticized as cruel and ineffective.

The measure expires at midnight on December 21, which has prompted migrants to amass at the border to try to enter the United States.

"This should not have been the case," said Garcia. "It is the breakdown of the migration policy of the United States and Mexico."