Developments
The House of Representatives is out of session until February 28, but while members are away we can expect discussion of a group of centrist Republicans’ and Democrats’ proposal that includes new restrictions on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and leadership of the House’s slim Republican majority are refusing to consider a package of Ukraine, Israel, and other aid that the Senate passed on February 12, because it does not include the hard-line border restrictions they have been demanding. Instead, ten members of the House, five from each party, are proposing an alternative bill (text/summary from Punchbowl News).
The bill restores foreign aid similar to what is in the Senate bill, but includes some controversial border provisions:
- A one-year DHS authority to shut the border to all undocumented migrants without regard to asylum needs, presumably requiring expulsion to Mexico;
- A one-year authority to expel, into Mexico or alternative countries, all migrants deemed to be “inadmissible” who do not specifically ask for protection;
- A higher standard of fear that asylum seekers would have to meet in screening interviews;
- A prohibition on transporting migrants for any purpose other than adjudicating their status; and
- A one-year restart of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Next steps for this bill, which has yet to be formally introduced, are not clear.
- Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Mica Soellner, “Inside a Key Meeting in Johnson’s Office” (Punchbowl News, February 16, 2024).
- Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong, “House Centrists to Unveil Bipartisan Border and Aid Deal for Ukraine and Israel” (NBC News, February 15, 2024).
- Julia Ainsley, Julie Tsirkin, Monica Alba, “Biden and House Republicans Are Locked in a Standoff Over the Border” (NBC News, February 15, 2024).
Joel Martínez, the acting deputy chief of Border Patrol, was suspended from his duties as he faces allegations of misconduct. Reports do not specify the nature of the misconduct, though Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials specified that Martínez is not under arrest.
- Nick Miroff, “Border Patrol’s Acting Deputy Chief Suspended for Alleged Misconduct” (The Washington Post, February 15, 2024).
- Rebecca Falconer, “Acting Deputy Chief of Border Patrol Suspended Over Misconduct Allegations” (Axios, February 16, 2024).
In Austin, federal District Court Judge David Ezra heard arguments in the Biden administration’s challenge to S.B. 4, a new Texas state law, set to go into effect on March 5, making unauthorized border crossings a state crime punishable by prison. If his questioning and comments were any guide, Judge Ezra, a Reagan appointee, seemed skeptical about Texas’s defense of the law.
- Pooja Salhotra, Uriel J. Garcia, “Texas and Biden Administration Lawyers Face Off in Court Over New Law Making Illegal Border Crossing a State Crime” (The Texas Tribune, February 15, 2024).
- Gus Bova, “America, Texas Spar Over State Deportations Law” (The Texas Observer, February 15, 2024).
A report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector-General faulted the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement for inadequately vetting sponsors or carrying out safety checks after releasing migrant children who arrived unaccompanied. Many migrant teenagers have ended up being made to work in conditions that violate child labor and worker safety standards.
- Hannah Dreier, “U.S. Failed to Safeguard Many Migrant Children, Review Finds” (The New York Times, February 15, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
According to a new Pew Research Center poll, 45 percent of U.S. respondents view the large number of migrants arriving at the border to be a “crisis.” Another 32 percent regard it to be a “major problem.” 80 percent believed that the federal government is doing a “bad job” of dealing with the migration increase. 57 percent believe that more migration increases crime, though data do not back that up at all.
- “How Americans View the Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border, Its Causes and Consequences” (Pew Research Center, February 15, 2024).
- Kierra Frazier, “Dems’ Disapproval of Us Handling of Border Hits Highest Point of Biden’s Tenure, Report Finds” (Politico, February 15, 2024).
- Maria Cramer, Maria Sanchez Diez, Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, “‘Migrant Crime Wave’ Not Supported by Data, Despite High-Profile Cases” (The New York Times, February 15, 2024).
- Philip Bump, “In Immigration, Republicans See More Security Worries Than Economic Ones” (The Washington Post, February 15, 2024).
Humanitarian volunteers in Arizona “reported that Border Patrol agents in Sasabe detained and threatened them, and took pictures of their driver’s licenses” after they transported migrants from freezing conditions along the border wall to the local Border Patrol station over the weekend, Todd Miller reported at the Border Chronicle.
- Todd Miller, “What Is the “Border Crisis”? A Snowstorm, Humanitarian Aid, and the Border Bill” (The Border Chronicle, February 15, 2024).
Texas state authorities have fenced off Shelby Park, the sprawling riverfront park along the border in Eagle Pass, stationing National Guard soldiers and usually preventing Border Patrol agents from entering. But the park’s public golf course remains open, the New York Times’s J. David Goodman reported.
- J. David Goodman, “At Ground Zero on the Texas Border, a Round of ‘Combat Golf’” (The New York Times, February 16, 2024).
On the Right
- Phillip Linderman, “Yes, Mayorkas Is in Fact Breaking the Law” (The American Conservative, February 16, 2024).
- James Bickerton, “Greg Abbott’s Border Policies Are Working” (Newsweek, February 15, 2024).