Since the beginning of July, the inhabitants of Nogales, Arizona, can see a huge helium balloon floating 22 meters above their heads. The blimp, equipped with infrared cameras that operate 24 hours a day, is being used by border authorities to monitor the border with Mexico, less than two kilometers away. It is the first time that the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English) operates one of these surveillance vehicles in the Tucson sector, a 400-kilometer strip of dividing line, where more than 173,000 have been detained. people in the last eight months. Another 17 devices like this will be deployed along the border, which has become a hot zone in recent weeks and just days before Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador meet in Washington.

The authorities consider the airship as a dissuasive measure in an area of ​​intense migratory traffic. These large balloons, which can rise up to 900 meters high, can be seen in other parts of the border, especially in Texas. His presence in Arizona underscores the troubled situation on the border. The United States has recorded the highest numbers of illegal crossings in decades this summer. Tragedies like the one in San Antonio, where 53 Migrants suffocated to death in a truck after entering the country, recall the drama that hundreds of people experience daily.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order this Thursday that allows members of the National Guard to detain migrants throughout the state and return them to the border. The president affirms that over the weekend 5,000 people who crossed illegally into the United States were arrested, creating “a crisis on the border that runs over the communities of the line.” The initiative follows the call made this week by three counties of the entity asking Abbott, a strong-arm Republican, to legally declare an invasion in the towns before the arrival of migrants. The local authorities requested deportation, despite the fact that this only corresponds to the federal government.

While waiting for the figures for June, May broke the records for illegal crossings. The Border Patrol captured 177,000 people, 15% more than in April. More than 60,000 people attempted to cross more than once during that month. Title 42, a pandemic health regulation, allows migrants to be expelled quickly and has been blamed for a significant increase in migration.

The invasion initiative was promoted by Kinney County, which is located on the border and a few kilometers away from Del Río, the town that has become ground zero for illegal immigration. County authorities criminally charge immigrants with the crime of illegal trespass.

Abbott has assured that the Constitution allows each State to protect itself against “invasion”, for which his Government has continued the construction of the border wall initiated by Trump (which has left almost 400 migrants injured since 2019) and mobilized police state and members of the National Guard. “The cartels have been emboldened and enriched by President Biden’s open border policies, with record numbers of people, weapons and deadly drug smuggling such as fentanyl,” Abbott said in promoting his executive order.

The Texas executive order has provoked the rejection of the Mexican government. “The application of the immigration law is the exclusive power of the federal government,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday night, which considers the initiative as “part of the electoral campaigns” that exist in the region.

Four other counties have joined Kinney’s call: Uvalde, Goliad, Burnet and Medina. None of these are on the border, but their political leaders, all Republicans, blame immigrants for a rise in crime and the deterioration of their communities.

The legal theory of invasion has been questioned by legal experts, who describe it as unlikely. The initiative was born from another Republican mind that calls for the return of the strong hand that Donald Trump showed on the border. In February, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was the first to issue a legal opinion preparing the ground for the mobilization of troops. The gesture was considered a political maneuver, since Brnovich is seeking the Republican candidacy for the Senate. Many Republicans are using the immigration issue to gain momentum in the races leading up to the midterm elections, where the opposition is threatening to wrest control of Congress from Biden.

The petition from the counties comes a few days after the Supreme Court gave a break to the president of the United States, whose administration has received heavy blows from the conservative majority. The judges, however, endorsed Washington’s attempt to rebuild the asylum system, which underwent a transformation during the harsh years of Trump. The Court’s ruling allows the end of the program known as Stay in Mexico, which forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their case. The requirement had sparked diplomatic tensions between Washington and Mexico City, which opposed the move.

This will be one of the issues addressed in López Obrador’s visit to the White House, scheduled for July 12. The meeting is marked by the Mexican president’s snub at the Summit of the Americas, held last month in Los Angeles. The Mexican president decided not to attend after Washington, the host, did not add Cuba and Venezuela to the regional meeting. The summit left a migratory agreement in which the nations promised to face the migratory phenomenon with unity. Mexico and the United States will have to show on Tuesday if it is true that there is unity around the issue.

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