Developments
Mexican migration agents pulled 400 migrants off of a cargo train in rural Chihuahua, Mexico, leaving them stranded in the desert, the human rights organization Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción (DHIA) denounced. The group included 150 children and 7 pregnant women. Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) stepped up its operations in Chihuahua, the northern border state that includes Ciudad Juárez, at the beginning of April.
- Veronica Martinez, “Frena Inm Tren Con Migrantes en Desierto de Samalayuca, Deja a las Personas Sin Agua y Alimentos” (La Verdad (Ciudad Juarez Mexico), April 23, 2024).
- “DHIA, A.C. @DhiaAc on Twitter“ (Twitter, April 22, 2024).
Asylum seekers who do arrive in Ciudad Juárez are now seeking to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents at Gate 40 along the El Paso border wall on the bank of the Rio Grande. This is east of Gate 36, where Texas state police and National Guard have set up a large presence, with several coils of razor wire, to prevent asylum seekers from approaching federal authorities.
- Blanca Elizabeth Carmona, “Migrantes Llegan a Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua” (Milenio (Mexico), April 23, 2024).
A group of 141 migrants who had breached the Texas state barrier in El Paso on March 21 were indicted yesterday on misdemeanor rioting charges. The Texas state grand jury’s ruling came one day after a county judge had thrown out the charges, finding insufficient probable cause. The March 21 incident, showing migrants pushing past guardsmen to reach the border wall and Border Patrol agents, was caught on video and circulated widely on social media.
- “Migrants Indicted in Texas Over Alleged Border Breach After Judge Dismissed Charges” (Associated Press, Associated Press, April 23, 2024).
- Julian Resendiz, Tirza Ortiz, “Judge Finds No Probable Cause to Hold Migrants in County Jail on State Riot Charges” (Border Report, April 23, 2024).
El Paso’s police have applied for a $2.8 million state grant to help it combat the Venezuelan-originated “Tren de Aragua” criminal organization. “We haven’t had contact with that gang (in criminal cases), but that’s not to say they are not here in El Paso,” a police spokesman told the El Paso Times.
- Daniel Borunda, “Tren de Aragua: Venezuelan Gang Raises Concerns on el Paso, Juarez Border” (The El Paso Times, April 23, 2024).
So far this calendar year, Mexican authorities have deported 5,689 Guatemalan citizens by land and another 1,831 by air. U.S. authorities returned 22,887 Guatemalans.
- Cesar Perez Marroquin, “Calor Sofoca a Arizona y Migrantes Guatemaltecos Corren Riesgo de Muerte” (Prensa Libre (Guatemala), April 23, 2024).
A group of relatives of missing Central American migrants traveled to Tijuana to search for them. “It took more or less a year for them to add his file as a case for search in Mexico, because the communication from my country did not go through,” said the wife of a Guatemalan man whom she last heard from in Sonora in 2021.
- Khennia Reyes, “Buscan a Migrantes Centroamericanos Desaparecidos” (El Imparcial (Tijuana Mexico), April 23, 2024).
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it met with Mexico’s National Search Commission to seek improved exchange of forensic information about migrants who have gone missing in Mexico and Central America, especially fingerprints.
- “Cicr Urge a la Coordinacion Regional Atender Desaparicion de Migrantes” (Milenio (Mexico), April 23, 2024).
The Biden administration released the 771-page text of a final rule to govern the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
- “Kathleen Bush-Joseph @kathleenbushjo2 on Twitter” (Twitter, April 23, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
A new data report from TRAC Immigration notes that U.S. immigration judges are ordering 50 percent more deportations now than in 2019, the peak year of the Trump administration. In the first half of fiscal year 2024, judges ordered 136,623 immigrants deported.
In 2019, 32 percent of migrants appearing in immigration court had attorneys; that has dropped to 15 percent this year.
38 percent of 2024’s rulings were asylum cases. Of those instances, only 21 percent were ordered removed; the rest received asylum or some other status allowing them to remain in the United States.
- “Top Places With the Most Immigrants Recently Ordered Deported” (TRAC Immigration, April 23, 2024).
An explainer from the National Immigration Forum dug into existing efforts and pending proposals to have USCIS asylum officers—not immigration judges—adjudicate more asylum cases for migrants who arrive at the border.
- Adjudication by Uscis Asylum Officers: Explainer (National Immigration Forum, Monday, April 22, 2024).
The Border Chronicle’s Melissa del Bosque interviewed Zachary Mueller of America’s Voice about the controversial and possibly illegal activities of “Border 911,” a pro-Trump group whose members include former top officials of Border Patrol, CBP, and ICE.
- Melissa del Bosque, “Border 911 and the Cruelty and Chaos Agenda” (The Border Chronicle, April 23, 2024).