The diplomats who craft western foreign policies are preoccupied by Russia and China. But the international question that most worries their political masters is immigration. As one close aide to President Joe Biden puts if: “If we lose the next election, it’ll be over the southern border not Ukraine.”
The political pressure generated by migration is set to intensify in the US this week with the expiration of Title 42 — a pandemic-era policy that allowed for the swift expulsion of undocumented migrants on public-health grounds. American officials are braced for as many as 13,000 would-be migrants to cross the Mexican border every day — more than double the current number.