Developments
Yesterday saw few new developments after Wednesday’s multiple media reports indicating that the Biden administration is considering drastic limits, via executive order, on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. (See yesterday’s Daily Border Links.) According to some reporting, these limits could include expulsions of asylum seekers when daily migrant encounters reach a certain level.
Progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) voiced firm opposition to the proposal: “Doing Trump impressions isn’t how we beat Trump,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez.
- Gloria Oladipo, “Progressives Lambast Biden Over Potential Move to Restrict Asylum” (The Guardian (Uk), February 22, 2024).
- Rafael Bernal, “Immigration World and Progressives Warn Biden Against Reported Asylum Crackdown” (The Hill, February 22, 2024).
- Sarah Fortinsky, “Jayapal: Any Biden Action Restricting Migrants Seeking Asylum Would Be ‘Extremely Disappointing Mistake’” (The Hill, February 22, 2024).
- Elvia Diaz, “Biden May Sign Trump-Era Immigration Executive Order. It Won’t Fix Arizona’s Border Issues” (The Arizona Republic, February 22, 2024).
- Alexis Simendinger, Kristina Karisch, “Morning Report — Biden’s Border Dilemma” (The Hill, February 22, 2024).
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) wrote that a Biden executive order or similar actions would be “election year gimmicks.”
- Jennifer Haberkorn, “Johnson Dismisses Biden’s Possible Border Executive Action as ‘Election Year Gimmicks’” (Politico, February 22, 2024).
- Katherine Fung, “Mike Johnson Is Outraged Joe Biden Is Giving Him What He Wants” (Newsweek, February 22, 2024).
The El Paso Times covered the Texas government’s legal attack on the city’s Annunciation House migrant shelter. “Annunciation House isn’t a place, per se. It’s a community of like-minded people, driven by their faith to help the most vulnerable regardless of circumstance,” wrote reporter Lauren Villagrán.
- Lauren Villagran, “Texas Ag Ken Paxton Sues Catholic Migrant Aid Organization for Alleged ‘Human Smuggling’” (USA Today, February 22, 2024).
“We are now witnessing an escalating campaign of intimidation, fear and dehumanization in the state of Texas,” Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso wrote in a statement. Further support for the shelter came from a group of Catholic and El Paso and Ciudad Juárez-based humanitarian and human rights groups.
- “Dylan Corbett @dylancorbett23 on Twitter” (Twitter, February 22, 2024).
- “Borderland Humanitarian and Faith Community Stands in Solidarity With Annunciation House Regarding Texas Attorney General’s Efforts to Criminalize Humanitarian Assistance” (Several organizations, Hope Border Institute, February 22, 2024).
A U.S. deportation flight brought 51 Cuban citizens to Havana yesterday. This is the 11th removal flight to Cuba since they resumed last April: 1 each month.
- “Llega a la Habana Vuelo de Eu Con 51 Migrantes Irregulares Deportados” (EFE, Milenio (Mexico), February 22, 2024).
The Wall Street Journal confirmed that deportation flights to Venezuela stopped in late January. Between October and then, 15 planes had sent 1,800 Venezuelan migrants back to Caracas.
- Kejal Vyas, Santiago Perez, “Venezuela Halts Flights of Deported Migrants From U.S. and Mexico” (The Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2024).
The director of Mexico‘s migration agency (National Migration Institute, INM) in Baja California called for the provision of bulletproof vests for agents in the face of attacks from smugglers. INM agents don’t carry lethal weapons, “but that could change,” though not soon, David Tejada Padilla told Border Report.
- Salvador Rivera, “Fearing Cartel Attacks, Mexican Immigration Officers Request Bulletproof Vests” (Border Report, February 22, 2024).
13,101 pounds of methamphetamine aboard a tractor trailer at Laredo’s Camino Real bridge on February 18 were CBP’s largest-ever meth seizure at a port of entry.
- “Cbp Officers Seize Six and a Half Tons of Methamphetamine at Eagle Pass Port of Entry, Largest Ever at a Port” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, February 22, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
“I went through dozens of reports, scores of articles, on the discussion of this migration bill, and the reporters talked to zero migrants and zero migrant rights groups. At all. None. Zero,” media analyst Adam Johnson told Todd Miller at the Border Chronicle.
- Todd Miller, “The Bipartisan Border Consensus Moves Right: A Q&A With Media Analyst Adam Johnson” (The Border Chronicle, February 22, 2024).
At the Washington Post, Philip Bump tried to envision Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s plan to use “red-state” National Guard soldiers to round up undocumented immigrants in Democratic-majority states. Bump’s conclusion: “It’s cosplay.”
- Philip Bump, “Stephen Miller’s Fantasy of Red-State Shock Troops Makes No Sense” (The Washington Post, February 22, 2024).
By busing migrants to Democratic-governed cities, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has “played into the idea of pitting immigrants against the American people in general and against immigrants who have been here for years,” a Democratic political strategist told CNN, noting that “it’s working” politically.
- Eric Bradner, Priscilla Alvarez, “Gov. Greg Abbott’s Border Tactics Force Democrats to Confront Migrant Crisis in Their Own Backyards” (CNN, February 22, 2024).
On the Right
- Randy Clark, “Biden’s Secret Border Deal With Mexico Could Leave Border Open for Years” (Breitbart, February 22, 2024).
- Adam Shaw, “Sen Bill Hagerty Says Dems Engaging in ‘Sheer Power Grab’ by Tolerating Border ‘Carnage’” (Fox News, February 22, 2024).
- Nick Mordowanec, “Joe Biden Admits Republicans Were Right on the Border” (Newsweek, February 22, 2024).