Developments
The San Diego, California Border Patrol sector may now be the number one destination for migrants coming to the border, according to a read of weekly data posted by Border Patrol sector chiefs. San Diego saw the most migration during much of the 1990s but has been surpassed by other parts of the border over the past quarter-century.
An increase in migrant arrivals there—8,959 Border Patrol apprehensions between April 10 and 16—had overwhelmed San Diego county efforts to receive released migrants, resulting in 24,000 CBP “street releases ” in San Diego since federal funding ran out in February. San Diego County has received $19.6 million in federal funding from the 2024 budget that Congress approved in March, but has not yet restarted migrant reception services, Border Report found.
- Adam Isacson @adam_wola on Twitter (Twitter, April 17, 2024).
- Salvador Rivera, “Federal Money in Hand, County of San Diego Yet to Commit Millions for Migrant Welcome Center” (Border Report, April 17, 2024).
In an effort to pacify conservatives angry that an Ukraine aid bill is headed to a vote this weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) introduced a new hard-line border bill. H.R. 3602, currently on the Rules Committee’s docket, includes most of the provisions of H.R. 2, which passed the House on a party-line vote in May 2023. Among other provisions, H.R. 2 would make it virtually impossible to access the U.S. asylum system at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill might come to a vote this week—or it may die a quiet death, as Republican hardliners are unhappy with the process.
- Mychael Schnell, Rebecca Beitsch, “House Gop Unveils Border Bill as Conservatives Slam Foreign Aid Measures” (The Hill, April 17, 2024).
As expected, the U.S. Senate voted to dismiss the House of Representatives’ effort to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The impeachment—spearheaded by House Republicans who oppose Mayorkas’s management of the border and migration—will not go to a Senate trial.
The dismissal passed by a 51-49 party-line vote in the Democratic-majority Senate. The most moderate Republicans voted to impeach, while the most conservative Democrats (or independents who caucus with Democrats) voted to dismiss.
- Jacqueline Alemany, Liz Goodwin, “Senate Votes to Dismiss Impeachment Charges Against Mayorkas” (The Washington Post, April 17, 2024).
- Rebecca Beitsch, “Gop Effort to Make Mayorkas Face of Border Runs Into Senate Dead-End” (The Hill, April 17, 2024).
- Anna Giaritelli, David Sivak, “Schumer Succeeds in Killing Off Mayorkas Impeachment Trial Before It Can Begin” (The Washington Examiner, April 17, 2024).
- Li Zhou, “The Very Short Mayorkas Impeachment Trial, Explained” (Vox, April 17, 2024).
- Aaron Blake, “The Politics of the Swiftly Dismissed Mayorkas Impeachment Trial” (The Washington Post, April 17, 2024).
More than 20 migrants, about half from Ecuador, were kidnapped by criminals in Ciudad Juárez last week after flying to the city. The criminals reportedly released five of them for a ransom of $8,000 each.
- Julian Resendiz, “Group Reports Mass Kidnapping of Ecuadorian Migrants in Juarez” (Border Report, April 17, 2024).
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena is on a tour of Texas border cities, visiting consulates to help them prepare for—and to send a strong message of opposition to—Texas’s S.B. 4 state immigration law. The controversial measure is currently suspended as federal courts consider appeals.
Bárcena reiterated that Mexico will not accept any deportations, including of Mexican citizens, carried out by Texas state—not federal—authorities.
- “La Canciller Alicia Barcena Inicia Gira de Trabajo en Chihuahua y Texas” (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Mexico), April 17, 2024).
- Julian Resendiz, “Mexico Offers Assistance to Texas Residents Against ‘Anti-Immigrant’ sb4” (Border Report, April 17, 2024).
- “Mexico’s Foreign Secretary, el Paso Leaders Talk Immigration and Healing at Border Visit” (CBS 4 El Paso, April 17, 2024).
In the Darién Gap, Colombia reports capturing “98 members of different criminal organizations between August 7, 2022 and March 12, 2024,” reads an item at the U.S. Southern Command’s Diálogo website. The document does not state whether any of those captured held positions of importance in criminal organizations, as opposed to low-level figures.
- “Panama, Colombia, Us, Allies Against Transnational Crime” (Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), April 18, 2024).
A new update from the UN Refugee Agency noted that since September, Honduras has measured more in-transit migration than Panama has. “This trend is explained by air transit to Nicaragua, which allows people coming mainly from Haiti, Cuba, Guinea, and other extra-continental nationalities to subsequently take the route through Honduras without passing through the Darién. In addition, there is maritime transit from Colombia to Nicaragua.”
- “Honduras – Reporte del Equipo Local de Frontera Suroriente – 1 al 31 de Marzo 2024” (UN Refugee Agency, April 17, 2024).
Monday is the deadline for public comment on CBP’s plan to install 25 miles of stadium-style bright lighting along the Rio Grande in west and south Texas. As the proposed lighting is “a major stressor to wildlife” and creates light pollution, the plan alarms environmental defenders.
- Mary Cantrell, “New Border Lighting Initiatives Prompt Concern Over Dark Skies, Environment” (The Big Bend Sentinel, April 17, 2024).
- Sandra Sanchez, “Cbp Seeks Input on Plan to Light Up 25 Miles of South and West Texas Borderlands” (Border Report, April 17, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
A new WOLA analysis looks at the sharp drop in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border so far in 2024. Rather than U.S. policy changes or the Texas government’s crackdown, the main reason appears to be Mexico’s stepped-up interdiction of migrants, at U.S. urging. These efforts may falter as flows of new migrants into Mexico remain robust; if that happens and migration increases, the Biden administration will likely consider means to “shut down” asylum access. Those steps, too, would only have a short-term impact, the study concludes.
- Adam Isacson, “Why Is Migration Declining at the U.S.-Mexico Border in Early 2024?” (Washington Office on Latin America, April 18, 2024).
The Guardian examined the leading candidate in Panama’s presidential elections’ unrealistic vow to “close” the Darién Gap to migration.
- Thomas Graham, “Panama’s Presidential Frontrunner Vows to ‘Close’ Darien Gap” (The Guardian (Uk), April 18, 2024).
A report from Jesuit Refugee Service USA and the Boston College School of Social Work looked at how digital tools are changing the migration experience, from the spread of misinformation to the challenges of using the CBP One app.
- “Navigating the Us-Mexico Border: Digital Practices of Migrants and Their Psychosocial Needs” (Boston College School of Social Work, JRS USA, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, April 17, 2024).
On the Right
- Khaleda Rahman, “Marjorie Taylor Greene Demands Space Lasers to Combat Migrants” (Newsweek, April 18, 2024).