Developments
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning pleading for assistance included in a budget package currently stuck in Congress: Republican legislators are demanding, as the price for their support, new restrictions on asylum and other migration. “Has border simply been an excuse to kill Ukraine? Democrats are asking themselves that question,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York).
- Catie Edmondson, Karoun Demirjian, Michael D. Shear, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Biden Says Russia Is Celebrating U.S. Divisions Over Providing Aid to Ukraine” (The New York Times, December 12, 2023).
- Karoun Demirjian, “Republicans Hold the U.S.-Mexico Border as a Bargaining Chip for Ukraine Aid” (The New York Times, December 12, 2023).
- Bernd Debusmann Jr, Sam Cabral, “Zelensky Pleads for More Aid Amid Standoff in Us Congress” (BBC (UK), December 12, 2023).
- “Editorial: Release Aid to Ukraine. Helping Our Allies Should Not Be Contingent on U.S. Border Policies” (The Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2023).
- David Frum, “Why the Gop Doesn’t Really Want a Deal on Ukraine and the Border” (The Atlantic, December 12, 2023).
- Ilya Somin, “The Gop’s Bogus Linkage Between Aiding Ukraine And “Border Security”” (The Volokh Conspiracy, Reason, December 12, 2023).
CBS News reported that the White House is signaling willingness to go along with changes in the law that would sharply restrict the right to seek asylum on U.S. soil, which dates back to the United States’s 1968 ratification of the 1951 Refugee Convention and passage of the 1980 Refugee Act. The restrictions that the Biden administration might accept include:
- “A new, far-reaching legal authority to allow U.S. border officials to summarily expel migrants without processing their asylum claims,” an item on Trump advisors’ wishlist that resembles the pandemic-era Title 42 expulsion authority—but without a public health justification. This proposal would require Mexico to be willing to take back expelled migrants, as it did for some nationalities during the pandemic.
- A nationwide expansion, beyond the border region, of “expedited removal,” a process that requires asylum seekers to defend their claims without a court hearing, usually a few days after arriving, with little access to counsel or ability to prepare their cases.
- Increasing the standard of “fear” that asylum seekers must meet in their initial screening interviews when placed in expedited removal.
- Mandating “the detention of certain migrants who are allowed into the country pending the adjudication of their claims.”
The administration continues to resist restrictions to the 1950s-era authority to issue humanitarian parole, force asylum seekers to “remain in Mexico,” and other proposals Republicans have floated. It is unclear where the administration stands on the ideas of an annual cap on asylum applications or codifying a ban on asylum for people who could have sought it in transit through other countries.
- Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “White House Open to New Border Expulsion Law, Mandatory Detention and Increased Deportations in Talks With Congress” (CBS News, December 12, 2023).
- “Jose Diaz Briseno @Diazbriseno on Twitter” (Twitter, December 12, 2023).
- Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), “Sen. Menendez Statement on Reports That the Biden Administration Is Considering Caving to Republicans and Resurrecting Title 42-Like Authority, Expanding Migrant Detention and Expedited Removals” (U.S. Senate, December 12, 2023).
- Amy Grenier, Greg Chen, Manolasya Perepa, “What Would Be the Impact of Expanding Expedited Removal Nationwide?” (American Immigration Lawyers Association, December 12, 2023).
The House and Senate are scheduled to adjourn their 2023 sessions on Thursday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has said he would re-convene next week if negotiators reached an Ukraine-border deal, but sounded pessimistic about that happening. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said “it is practically impossible” to reach a deal before the holidays. The chief Republican negotiator, Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), sounded a bit more optimistic, though he echoed that time is running out for a deal this year. Negotiator Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said he has “no confidence” in lead Democratic negotiator Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and called for deeper White House involvement.
- Audrey Fahlberg, “Speaker Johnson Doubles Down on Pairing Ukraine Aid With Border-Security Legislation” (National Review, December 12, 2023).
- Catie Edmondson, “Republicans Sideline Zelensky With Border Demands, Imperiling Aid Package” (The New York Times, December 12, 2023).
- Myah Ward, “White House Scrambles in Last-Ditch Effort to Salvage Border Talks” (Politico, December 12, 2023).
- “Burgess Everett @Burgessev on Twitter” (Twitter, December 12, 2023).
- Al Weaver, “Graham Urges Biden to Get Involved in Border Talks, Blasts Top Dem Negotiator” (The Hill, December 12, 2023).
- “Kelly Phares @Kellyfphares on Twitter” (Twitter, December 12, 2023).
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spent about two hours on Capitol Hill meeting with Sens. Lankford, Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), and Senate leaders’ aides. Sinema cited “substantive progress” and Murphy struck a similar note
- Burgess Everett, “Mcconnell: Border-Ukraine Deal This Year ‘Practically Impossible’” (Politico, December 12, 2023).
A CBP release reported that a Guatemalan woman died on September 15 after falling from the 30-foot Trump-era border wall near Otay Mesa, southeast of San Diego. In mid-November, the New York Times reported that 350 victims of wall falls had been admitted in 2023 to the U.C. San Diego Health trauma center, up from zero in the 3 years before the wall’s 2019 renovation.
- “Woman Dies After Presumed Fall From International Border Barrier Near Otay Mesa Port of Entry” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, December 12, 2023).
- Fernie Ortiz, “Migrant Woman Dies After Apparent Fall From Border Wall in San Diego” (Border Report, December 12, 2023).
Mexico’s foreign ministry issued a statement calling on CBP to reopen the PedWest pedestrian crossing south of San Diego, one of two border bridges into Eagle Pass, Texas, and the entire Lukeville, Arizona port of entry. All are closed as CBP has diverted officers to help Border Patrol process large numbers of arriving migrants. People are waiting four or five hours in Tijuana to cross at the San Ysidro port of entry south of San Diego. Arizona Senators Mark Kelly (D) and Kyrsten Sinema sent a letter urging President Biden to deploy the National Guard to help reopen the Lukeville crossing.
- “El Gobierno de Mexico Llama a Reanudar Operaciones de los Cruces Fronterizos de Baja California-California, Sonora-Arizona y Coahuila-Texas” (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Mexico), December 12, 2023).
- Angel Hernandez, “Mexico Pide a Estados-Unidos la Reapertura de 3 Cruces Fronterizos” (Milenio (Mexico), December 12, 2023).
- Alexandra Mendoza, “Border Wait Times Swell at San Ysidro’s Pedeast After Closure of Key Pedestrian Border Crossing” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, December 12, 2023).
- “Camilo Montoya-Galvez @Camiloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, December 12, 2023).
Migrants staying at southern Tijuana’s massive Agape shelter, many of them families, held a protest outside the U.S. consulate to demand more CBP One appointments.
- Mireya Cuellar, “Migrantes en Tijuana Demandan Que el Gobierno de Eu de Citas” (La Jornada (Mexico), December 13, 2023).
A December 8 DHS statement noted that the Department has removed nearly 13,000 citizens of Venezuela from the United States. Some have been returned to Venezuela aboard eight deportation flights, the rest have been deported to Mexico under the Biden administration’s post-Title 42 asylum rule.
- Dhs Conducts Removal Flights to Venezuela, Central America, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, and South Korea (Department of Homeland Security, Friday, December 8, 2023).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The directors of two UN agencies, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), published a column at Time arguing that efforts to deter migrants don’t work and that “the right strategy would tackle every stage of the journey, through a comprehensive and route-based approach of engagement.”
- Amy E. Pope, Filippo Grandi, “The Global Immigration System Is Failing. There’s a Better Way” (International Organization for Migration, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Time, December 11, 2023).
On the Right
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), “Sen. Cruz Introduces Comprehensive Border Security Amendment to the National Security Supplemental” (U.S. Senate, December 12, 2023).
- Bradford Betz, “Migrant Who Thanked Biden After Entering Us Illegally Is Already in Nyc With Court Date Set for October 2024” (Fox News, December 12, 2023).