Developments
Six senators continue to negotiate the Biden administration’s supplemental budget request for Ukraine, Israel, and the border. As a condition for their support, Republican legislators are demanding legal changes that would sharply curtail access to asylum. “We’ve made progress on asylum,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), one of the negotiators, who added that Republicans continue to insist on limits to the presidential authority to grant humanitarian parole (which is not a border issue). “We have to get this done this week,” said Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee.
- Burgess Everett, “Tillis: Senate Border Talks Yield ‘Good Progress’ on Asylum, Impasse on Parole” (Politico, November 27, 2023).
- Sahil Kapur, “Crunch Time for Israel and Ukraine Aid as Lawmakers Return to Congress From Recess” (NBC News, November 27, 2023).
Yesterday ICE sent its sixth deportation flight to Caracas, Venezuela since October 18, following an October 5 agreement with the Venezuelan government to resume aerial deportations. “If averages hold that would be about 720 people deported to Venezuela,” wrote Tom Cartwright of Witness at the Border, who closely tracks deportation flights.
- “Thcartwright @Thcartwright on Twitter” (Twitter, November 27, 2023).
- “EEUU Advierte a Venezolanos No Arriesgarse Ni Contar Con el Apoyo de «Coyotes»” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), November 27, 2023).
Citing large numbers of arriving migrants, CBP is closing a border bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas and reducing vehicle processing at the Lukeville, Arizona port of entry so that personnel can assist Border Patrol with processing.
- “Statement From Cbp on Operations in Eagle Pass, Texas and Lukeville, Arizona” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, November 27, 2023).
- “Us Closes Border Crossing to Vehicles and Limits Traffic at Another in Response to Illegal Entries” (Associated Press, Associated Press, November 27, 2023).
- Sandra Sanchez, “Cbp: South Texas Port of Entry to Close Due to Migrant Surges” (Border Report, November 27, 2023).
CBP is adding new barrier at the point where the Tijuana River crosses into California, a site where a migrant from West Africa died during a large group incursion earlier this month.
- Salvador Rivera, “New Border Barriers Going Up Between San Diego and Tijuana to Prevent Mass Crossings” (Border Report, November 27, 2023).
An Army National Guardsman assigned to the Texas state government’s Operation Lone Star “was killed from ‘a self-inflicted wound while on duty by a public park'” in Laredo, Texas on Thanksgiving morning.
- Sandra Sanchez, “National Guard Member Found Dead on Thanksgiving Morning at Border Park” (Border Report, November 27, 2023).
Analyses and Feature Stories
Over 29 months, state authorities operating under Texas’s “Operation Lone Star” have participated in vehicle pursuits that killed at least 74 people and injured at least 189 more, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. Unlike many law enforcement agencies (including CBP) that have developed policies to govern risky chases on public roads, Texas’s Department of Public Safety continues to leave pursuits up to the discretion of individual officers, the New York Times reported last Friday.
- “Us: Texas Troopers’ Deadly Vehicle Pursuits” (Human Rights Watch, November 27, 2023).
- Aaron Torres, “Car Chases by Texas Police Near Border Have Led to 74 Deaths in Two Years, Report Says” (The Dallas Morning News, November 27, 2023).
The Arizona Daily Star reported from the Mexican border town of Sásabe, Sonora, where the population has shrunk from 2,500 to less than 100 amid intense fighting between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. Closures of gaps in the border wall have made it difficult for people to flee into Arizona.
- Emily Bregel, “Cartel Violence Empties Border Town, Sends Residents Fleeing to Arizona” (The Arizona Daily Star, November 27, 2023).
Criminals are using AI-doctored images and videos to defraud the families of missing migrants, portraying the migrants as kidnap victims and demanding ransom payments, EFE reported.
- “Criminales Manipulan Imagenes Con IA para Cobrar Extorsiones” (EFE, Milenio (Mexico), November 27, 2023).