The latest edition of a quarterly effort to document the status of asylum seekers forced by metering to wait in Mexico for a chance to approach U.S. border ports of entry.
Metering Update: February 2020
Month: February 2020
Interlocking Set of Trump Administration Policies at the U.S.-Mexico Border Bars Virtually All from Asylum
Published by the Migration Policy Institute on February 27, 2020.
Explains the various policies, rule changes, and programs that the Trump administration has used to eliminate the legal right to seek asylum at the border.
“You Will Never See Your Child Again”: The Persistent Psychological Effects of Family Separation
Published by Physicians for Human Rights on February 25, 2020.
An investigation of 17 adults and 9 children who had been separated in CBP custody finds “pervasive symptoms and behaviors consistent with trauma.”
Mexico does little as thousands flee violence for US border
Published by the Arizona Daily Star on February 24, 2020.
A look at Mexico’s crackdown on migration through its territory, even as the number of Mexican asylum seekers coming to the United States rises.
How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession
Published by The New Yorker on February 21, 2020.
An investigation of the policymaking process within the Trump administration and the outsized role played by a 34-year-old hardliner in the White House.
How the American dream died on the world’s busiest border
Published by The Guardian on February 21, 2020.
The plight of migrants forced to wait in Mexican border towns for a chance to seek asylum on the U.S. side.
National Drug Control Strategy: Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy 2020
Published by the White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy on February 20, 2020.
A brief White House document laying out a strategy for “significantly decreasing the availability of illicit drugs in America’s communities trafficked across our southwest border.” (link at whitehouse.gov)
Re: U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol’s Abuse and Mistreatment of Detained Sick Children
Published by ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties and ACLU Border Rights on February 18, 2020.
A complaint to the DHS Inspector-General raises recent allegations of mistreatment of sick migrant children in CBP and Border Patrol custody.
Support for DHS Counter-Drug Activity Reprogramming Action
Published by the Defense Department Comptroller on February 13, 2020.
A Defense Department notification to Congress that it is transferring $3.8 billion to the Department of Homeland Security for construction of border fencing, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration. (link at comptroller.defense.gov)
How the Trump Administration Uses the “Hidden Weapons” of Immigration Law
Published by The New Yorker on February 13, 2020.
A Q&A with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy counsel at the American Immigration Council.
‘Remain in Mexico’ Program Harming Children
Published by Human Rights Watch on February 12, 2020.
Health investigators find that “Remain in Mexico” subjects “children and families to crowded, unsanitary, insecure conditions with inadequate protection from infectious diseases.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Budget Overview: Fiscal Year 2021 Congressional Justification
Published by the Department of Homeland Security on February 11, 2020.
The annual budget request to Congress for the agency that includes Border Patrol, CBP officers at ports of entry, and an Air and Marine Division operating along U.S. borders. Includes the request for border wall construction. (link at dhs.gov)
No Way Out: The Humanitarian Crisis for Migrants and Asylum Seekers Trapped Between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America
Published by Doctors Without Borders on February 11, 2020.
A documentation of the effects that U.S. asylum restriction policies are having on migrants’ physical and mental health, based on 480 interviews and testimonies with migrants and asylum seekers.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Budget Overview: Fiscal Year 2021 Congressional Justification
Published by the Department of Homeland Security on February 11, 2020.
ICE’s annual funding request submitted to Congress with descriptions of its planned activities and their cost. (link at dhs.gov)
Fiscal Year 2019 Customs and Border Protection Border Statistics
Published by Customs and Border Protection on February 11, 2020.
All of the prior-year data that CBP posts to its statistics page, combined in a single PDF file. Includes sector profile, family unit and UAC apprehensions, family unit apprehensions by sector, monthly apprehensions, apprehensions from Mexico and other than Mexico, staffing statistics, deaths, apprehensions by sector, apprehensions since 1925, and budget statistics.
A Group of Agents Rose Through the Ranks to Lead the Border Patrol. They’re Leaving It in Crisis.
Published by ProPublica on February 10, 2020.
A cohort of Border Patrol agents who served together in Douglas, Arizona in the 2000s rose to the topmost ranks and leaves a difficult legacy.
The “smarter” wall: How drones, sensors, and AI are patrolling the border
Published by Vox Recode on February 7, 2020.
A look at drones, towers, sensors, and other so-called “smart wall” technology.
Trump ramps up border-wall construction ahead of 2020 vote
Published by The Washington Post on February 6, 2020.
A detailed, graphical look at every segment of ongoing border wall construction.
Concerns grow that Trump’s wall will damage rivers, wildlife habitat on Arizona border
Published by The Arizona Republic on February 3, 2020.
A look at potential environmental harms that wall construction could cause in southern Arizona, and the work of advocates.