Developments
A group of senators met late into yesterday evening to negotiate a deal to approve the Biden administration’s $110.5 billion request for emergency funds for Ukraine, Israel, the border, and other priorities. The request is held up by Republican insistence that it come with new restrictions on asylum and other migration protections. The U.S. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year today, though Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) scheduled votes for tomorrow in order to keep the chamber in session if necessary. House leadership has indicated no schedule changes.
- Lauren Fox, Manu Raju, Priscilla Alvarez, “White House Agitates Allies With Major Border Concessions as It Races to Get Ukraine Aid Deal” (CNN, December 13, 2023).
- Colleen Long, Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves, “Biden Considers New Border and Asylum Restrictions as He Tries to Reach Senate Deal for Ukraine Aid” (Associated Press, Associated Press, December 13, 2023).
- Karoun Demirjian, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Inside the Border Talks That Could Decide the Fate of Ukraine Aid” (The New York Times, December 13, 2023).
“We made progress today,” said top Democratic negotiator Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut). “We’re not there yet but we continue to head in the right direction. I think it’s more reason for everybody to stay in town, get this done.” Top Republican negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) said earlier Wednesday, “There has been movement on both sides.”
- Burgess Everett, “Top Dem Optimistic on Border Deal: ‘No Reason We Can’t Finish’” (Politico, December 13, 2023).
- “Camilo Montoya-Galvez @Camiloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
One of the negotiators, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), confirmed a December 12 CBS News scoop that the Biden administration was willing to consider a new presidential authority to shut off asylum and expel asylum seekers, Title 42-style, without a public health justification. Tillis said that the proposal would work on a “stadium is full” model: once a day’s Border Patrol apprehensions reach a certain level, asylum would be shut off. Tillis suggested a threshold of “south of 3,000” apprehensions per day, which is lower than any monthly average since January 2021.
- “Alan He @Alanhe on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
- “Camilo Montoya-Galvez @Camiloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
Republican negotiators are also demanding expansion of “expedited removal,” a rapid screening procedure in lieu of immigration court, including for migrants in the U.S. interior. That would come with a requirement that migrants being screened prove a higher standard of fear of death, torture, or persecution. At Slow Boring, the American Immigration Council’s Dara Lind explained why expanding expedited removal would have “no implications for short-term border security, or the handling of new asylum cases, and will in no way alleviate the logistical burdens the administration is wrestling with.”
- “Pablo Manriquez @Pabloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
- Dara Lind, “’Expedited Removal‘ Won’t Fix Asylum” (American Immigration Council, Slow Boring, December 13, 2023).
Progressive legislators and migrants’ rights defense groups voiced outrage at signs of administration willingness to go along with such a deal. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus held a well-attended press conference outside the Capitol. “Alienating the progressive wing of the party is almost a necessary ingredient of finishing a border deal,” Politico observed.
- “Congressional Hispanic Caucus @Hispaniccaucus on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
- Burgess Everett, Jennifer Haberkorn, Nicholas Wu, “‘Rude Awakening’: Biden Takes Progressive Fire in Border Talks” (Politico, December 13, 2023).
- John Bresnahan, Andrew Desiderio, Max Cohen, “Biden’s Problems on the Left” (Punchbowl News, December 14, 2023)
- “Myths and Facts: “Border Strengthening” Measures Proposed in Us Congress” (International Rescue Committee, December 13, 2023).
Unnamed DHS officials told NBC News that mandatory detentions of migrants, one of the proposals under senators’ consideration, “would break the border” as detention facilities filled up.
- Julia Ainsley, Julie Tsirkin, “Border Policies Under Consideration Could Overwhelm System, Dhs Officials Warn” (NBC News, December 13, 2023).
Border Patrol apprehended 8,253 migrants border-wide on December 12, a high figure but down from over 10,200 7 days earlier. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador shared a slide showing that U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border increased from 53,016 during the first week of November to 69,462 during the first week of December, or 31 percent. The top Border Patrol sectors during December 1-7 were Tucson, Arizona (19,935), Del Rio, Texas (15,702), and San Diego, California (12,062).
- “Camilo Montoya-Galvez @Camiloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, December 13, 2023).
- “#ConferenciaPresidente | Miércoles 13 de diciembre de 2023.” (Presidencia de México, December 13, 2023).
- “Lopez Obrador Reconoce Aumento de 31 % en Cruces Irregulares en Frontera Norte de Mexico” (EFE, Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), December 13, 2023).
In an effort to slow migrant arrivals in the Tucson Sector, Mexico’s national and state governments are launching a “Migration Containment Plan” in the state of Sonora, with increased military and police filters and road checkpoints at bus stations and on main roads.
- Hector Navia, “San Luis Rio Colorado Anuncia Plan de Contencion de Flujo Migratorio” (Milenio (Mexico), December 13, 2023).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The Niskanen Center obtained data about the “Safe Mobility Offices” that the U.S. government has established this year in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Though operating so far at a small scale, these “SMOs” have referred 10,000 migrants to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and about 2,500 refugees have arrived in the United States so far.
- Matthew la Corte, “Early Signs of Success: 2,500 Refugees Resettled in the U.S. Through the Safe Mobility Office (Smo) Initiative So Far” (Niskanen Center, December 13, 2023).
Citing data from Honduras’s migration agency, UNHCR noted a sharp drop in migration through Honduras from October (a record 102,008 migrants registered) to November (59,787), the fewest in a month since July. Migrants from Haiti (35,529 to 5,438) decreased most sharply, though migration from number-one country Venezuela also fell (34,547 to 26,440). Of 187 migrants whom UNHCR polled, 96 percent got their information from WhatsApp and only 38 percent had eaten three meals the day before.
- “Honduras – Mixed Movements Protection Monitoring – November 2023” (UN Refugee Agency, December 13, 2023).
An NPR analysis of Republican presidential candidates’ positions on border and migration showed unanimity on most issues, but some disagreement over the harshest proposals.
- Jasmine Garsd, “Where the Republican Presidential Candidates Stand on Immigration” (National Public Radio, December 13, 2023).
The Associated Press debunked claims by Mark Lamb, an Arizona county sheriff running for Senate, that asylum seekers released into the United States are “being given a cell phone, a plane ticket to wherever they want to go in this country, so probably to a community near you, and a $5,000 Visa card.”
- Melissa Goldin, “Us Senate Candidate Spreads False Claims About Migrant Aid” (Associated Press, Associated Press, December 13, 2023).
On the Right
- Alex Oliveira, “Border Closure Has Us Citizens Considering Illegally Crossing Rather Than Take 8-Hour Drive” (The New York Post, December 13, 2023).
- Greg Wehner, Griff Jenkins, “Thousands of Migrants Wait a Few Hours From Eagle Pass, Texas, to Catch Trains Headed for Southern Border” (Fox News, December 13, 2023).