Tijuana border feels weight of Biden's order on closure

Every year, waves of people from around the world make their way to southern California to start a new life and find safe harbour.

- Amanda Ulrich

Along remote, isolated sections of the border between California and Mexico, many asylum seekers cross illegally, often fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries, and then surrender to border agents; apprehensions among those crossing in the San Diego region recently reached their highest level in decades.

The San Ysidro border checkpoint, connecting Tijuana and San Diego, represents the busiest land crossing in the Western Hemisphere. Asylum seekers and tens of thousands of citizens or visa holders pass northbound through the official port of entry every day.

Now, in the wake of Joe Biden's executive order on immigration, which temporarily blocks the entry of most people who cross the US-Mexico border illegally, this bustling border region is filled with uncertainty.

Aid groups in the San Diego area are grappling with the abrupt changes.

Some experts fear the rules won't deter people from making the dangerous journey to the US and crossing unlawfully through treacherous landscapes, and will instead sow confusion among an already vulnerable population.