Developments
Axios reported that as President Joe Biden prepares for his March 7 State of the Union address, “one bold move” he has considered “is an executive order that would dramatically stanch the record flow of migrants into the Southwest. This could even happen in the two weeks before the address.” The article offered no further details about what such an executive order might contain, nor is it clear what Biden could do within existing law to “stanch” arrivals of asylum seekers.
- “Biden’s Reset Moment” (Axios, February 19, 2024).
54,547 people have crossed the Darién Gap into Panama so far this year, according to a statement from the country’s security ministry. Minister Juan Manuel Pino predicts that migration through the Darién in 2024 will exceed the 520,000 who passed through the treacherous region last year.
Pino estimated that criminal organizations in the Darién made about $820 million from smuggling migrants last year.
Panama has extended through July its so-called “Shield” campaign, the statement reads, “with a greater number of land, naval and air troops to create a greater blockade on the border with Colombia.”
- “Este Ano la Cifra de Migrantes Irregulares Sera Superior a 2023: Afirmo el Ministro Pino” (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (Panama), February 19, 2024).
- “Traficantes de Panama Cobraron 820 Mdd Moviendo Migrantes en el Darien” (EFE, Milenio (Mexico), February 19, 2024).
A February 18 tweet from the Ministry records a larger Darién Gap figure: 59,521 migrants year-to-date. Of that total, 38,108 are citizens of Venezuela; 4,777 are from China, 4,532 are from Ecuador, and 4,033 are citizens of Haiti.
- “Ministerio de Seguridad Publica de Panama @Minsegpma on Twitter” (Twitter, February 18, 2024).
The first six weeks of 2024 saw “an important increase in the number of people irregularly entering Honduras,” most with the goal of reaching the United States, reported the UN Refugee Agency. Between January 1 and February 11, 57,202 people had entered Honduras’s southeastern border, more than double the number during the same period in 2023.
- “Honduras – Reporte de Situacion de Movimientos Mixtos No.5 – Enero 2024” (UN Refugee Agency, February 19, 2024).
The death toll is now three from a February 15 armed attack on two vehicles carrying migrants in rural Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona border. The victims are a child from Ecuador and two adult women, likely from Peru and Honduras.
- “Ataque Armado Contra Migrantes en Saric, Sonora, Dejo 3 Muertos y 3 Lesionados; Hay un Menor Entre los Fallecidos, Confirma Fgje” (Proyecto Puente (Mexico), February 19, 2024).
- ““Prendieron las Luces y Empezaron los Balazos”: Asi Fue el Ataque a Migrantes en Sonora, Mexico” (Primicias (Ecuador), February 19, 2024).
A University of Texas at Austin poll found that 59 percent of Texas voters, including 48 percent of those identifying as Democrats, “favor making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the United States.” Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) approval rating was 53 percent, up from 48 percent in December.
- Jalen Wells, Natalie Mccain, “New Poll From University of Texas Shows Most Texans See Crisis on the Border” (KFDX/KJTL, Border Report, February 19, 2024).
- Jasper Scherer, “Gov. Greg Abbott’s Approval Rating Is Rising Amid Border Confrontation With Biden Administration” (The Dallas Morning News, February 19, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
BBC Mundo told the story of a family of Venezuelan asylum seekers who flew to the organized crime-controlled border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for a CBP One appointment at the Laredo port of entry. They missed their appointment because they ended up among thousands whom organized crime groups have kidnapped for ransom in Mexico’s violent border state of Tamaulipas. Now free, they haven’t been able to secure a new appointment using the app.
- Valentina Oropeza Colmenares, ““Nos Secuestran y Nos Roban la Cita Con Migracion en ee.uu.”: La Nueva Modalidad de los Carteles Mexicanos para Extorsionar a los Migrantes en la Frontera” (BBC (UK), February 19, 2024).
“There’s a lot of people in this community that are upset with how the governor is using our community as a political staging area to have this narrative that we’re being invaded,” Jessie Fuentes, who runs a Rio Grande kayak tour business in Eagle Pass, Texas, told the Border Chronicle in an audio interview.
- Pablo de la Rosa, “Eagle Pass Residents Shocked by News That Governor Abbott Will Build Operation Lone Star Base” (The Border Chronicle, February 19, 2024).