• In a speech delivered Thursday from the White House, US President Joe Biden was keen to send a message that combined firmness and humanity regarding immigration, an issue that is becoming increasingly sensitive in the United States in light of the influx of unprecedented numbers of migrants to the border with Mexico.
• Addressing immigrants, the Democratic president said, "Do not come to the border" if you have not followed the legal procedures before that to enter the United States legally.

However, his statements were criticized by both the right-wing, who accuse him of inaction on the issue of immigration, and human rights organizations that consider his position a violation of the right to asylum.

The Democratic president pledged to reform the immigration system, which he described as "broken", recognizing that this "difficult" problem would not be solved "overnight".

On Sunday, Biden is scheduled to head for the first time since assuming the presidency two years ago, to the southern border of the United States, specifically to the city of El Paso in Texas.

Then he will visit Mexico, where "strengthening the border situation" will be at the center of discussions with his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with whom he has sometimes frigid relations.

The US president criticized the "hard-line" Republicans, accusing them of "demagoguery" over the immigration crisis and of blocking funding requests to address this problem.

"We can secure our borders and reform immigration policy so that it is orderly, safe and humane. And we can do all of this without extinguishing the flame of freedom that has brought generations of immigrants to America," he said.

However, his administration announced new measures against immigrants who cross the border illegally. The US authorities intend to increasingly resort to immediate expulsion procedures coupled with a ban on re-entry into the country for a period of five years.

A record number of more than 230,000 people were stopped at the southern border of the United States in November.

The US authorities intend to issue an additional 30,000 residence permits to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries from which the largest number of undocumented immigrants come.

But if the citizens of those countries do not resort to legal means, expulsion may be their fate when they cross the borders illegally. Mexico has pledged to host 30,000 immigrants seeking to enter the United States each month, given how difficult it is to get them back to their countries of origin.

The US authorities also intend to limit the conditions for eligibility for the right to asylum, while adopting the rule of excluding individuals who have not duly submitted applications to the concerned authorities in the United States or any other country through which they have transited, with some exceptions.