Daily Border Links are following a sporadic publication schedule between May 3 and July 19. Regular daily updates will return on July 22.
Developments
Today the Democratic-majority Senate will consider the Border Act, a series of border security and migration measures that resulted from bipartisan negotiations between November and February. The most controversial of these is a provision that would cut off protection-seeking migrants’ access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, Title 42-style, when daily migrant encounters exceed an average of 4,000 (discretionary asylum shutdown) or 5,000 (mandatory asylum shutdown).
The Border Act is identical to legislation that failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate on February 7, when—in response to Republican demands—it was attached to Ukraine and Israel aid (which ultimately passed separately in April). At the time, nearly all Republicans, led by Donald Trump, opposed it, arguing that it was not aggressive enough against migration at the border.
Republican opposition is similarly certain this time, and it appears that fewer Democrats may vote for the bill today than in February, since Ukraine aid is no longer at stake. Still, the Biden administration and Senate Democratic leaders are viewing this defeat as good 2024 electoral strategy: they believe that it undermines Republican arguments that Democrats are insufficiently aggressive about border security, and that it reveals Republicans to be uncooperative.
Still, the result will be that for the second time in four months, most Senate Democrats will go on the record as supporting a historic rollback of threatened people’s right to seek asylum on U.S. soil: a right that emerged in the years after World War II and was cemented into U.S. law in 1980.
- Carl Hulse, “Democrats See Wins in Losing Votes” (The New York Times, May 22, 2024).
- Lauren Fox, Priscilla Alvarez, “Senate Border Bill Exposes Democratic Divisions as White House Attempts to Ramp Up Pressure on Gop” (CNN, May 23, 2024).
- Lauren Gambino, “Senate Democrats to Force Second Vote on Border Bill That Republicans Blocked” (The Guardian (Uk), May 23, 2024).
- Virginia Allen, “Gop Senators Slam Schumer, Call Border Bill Vote ‘Election Year Political Stunt’” (The Daily Signal, May 22, 2024).
Adding to a Politico report from last Friday, NBC News reported today that the Biden administration plans to introduce an executive order in June enabling an asylum “shutdown” similar to that foreseen in the “Border Act.”
The report notes that this legally dubious measure would require much cooperation from Mexico’s government, which would have to accept a large number of non-Mexican migrants deported back across the border after being refused asylum. (This number would greatly exceed ICE’s capacity to deport people back to their often distant countries by air.) Administration officials are “in talks with Mexican leaders to get their crucial buy-in before proceeding” with the executive order, NBC noted.
- Julia Ainsley, Julie Tsirkin, Monica Alba, “The Biden Administration Has a Plan to Shut Down the Border. But It Needs Mexico’s Help.” (NBC News, May 23, 2024).
The chief of Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector reported that agents there apprehended 6,157 migrants during the week of May 15-21. That represents a 39 percent drop in migration over the past 3 weeks in San Diego, which led all 9 of Border Patrol’s U.S.-Mexico border sectors in apprehensions in April. It is possible that San Diego may have dropped from the number-one spot among border sectors; available data, however, do not yet show migration increasing elsewhere along the border.
- “Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. Mcgurk-Daniel @Usbpchiefsdc on Twitter” (Twitter, May 22, 2024).
CBP reported seizing 11,469 pounds of methamphetamine at the Otay Mesa port of entry near San Diego on Monday. As the agency reported seizing 93,881 pounds of the drug during the first 7 months of fiscal 2024, this single seizure would increase CBP’s yearly meth haul by 12 percent.
- “Cbp Officers Squash Narcotic Smuggling Attempt Intercepting $18 Million Worth of Meth” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, May 22, 2024).
As Mexico continues stepped-up efforts to make it more difficult for migrants to access the U.S.-Mexico border, Border Report reported that a “caravan” of about 1,000-1,200 migrants arrived in Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, while smaller groupings have been departing Mexico’s southern border-zone city of Tapachula, Chiapas. (Puebla is nearly 600 miles south of the nearest U.S.-Mexico border crossing.)
- Julian Resendiz, “Multiple New Migrant Caravans Setting Off for Us Border” (Border Report, May 22, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The Texas state government’s “Operation Lone Star” has spent more than $11.2 billion on a border crackdown that has racially profiled people (96 percent of those arrested have been of Hispanic origin) and principally ended up charging “people who pose no threat to public safety” for misdemeanor offenses, according to a new report from the ACLU of Texas.
- “Operation Lone Star: Misinformation and Discrimination in Texas Border Enforcement” (ACLU of Texas, May 22, 2024).
- Gaige Davila, “New Report Shows Operation Lone Star Has Spent Billions Arresting People Mostly for Misdemeanors” (Texas Public Radio, May 22, 2024).
A column from Migration Policy Institute President Andrew Selee noted that the early May regional migration summit in Guatemala highlighted the need for greater cooperation and coordination of nations’ migration policies at a time of increased flows.
- Andrew Selee, “Translating Principles Into Action: Countries Set New Agenda on the los Angeles Declaration’s Second Anniversary” (Migration Policy Institute, May 22, 2024).
On the Right
- Emily Crane, “Rotting Human Remains and Children Raped: Why Us Border Patrol Suicides Have Skyrocketed Under Biden” (The New York Post, May 22, 2024).