As Biden Prepares to Take Office, a New Rush at the Border The president-elect has promised a more humane border policy. But devastated economies and natural disasters in Latin America have fueled a spike in migration that could make pledges hard to keep. Francisco Velasquez, a young Guatemalan who lost his home in a hurricane, hoped to work in Florida but was arrested by Border Patrol agents and returned to Mexico.Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times SASABE, Ariz. — By the time the Border Patrol spotted the two migrants in a tangle of shrubs on a frigid December morning, they had been meandering aimlessly in the desert for six days. They had lost their way on the final leg of a monthlong journey from Guatemala, encountering only herds of javelinas, lone coyotes and skin-piercing cactuses as they staggered north. Exhausted, thirsty and cold, they did not resist arrest.