Developments
On Thursday the 29th, President Joe Biden plans to visit Brownsville, Texas. It will be the second visit to the U.S.-Mexico border of Biden’s presidency. Former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump plans to be elsewhere at the Texas border, in Eagle Pass, on the same day. “We welcome that split screen,” a senior administration official told NBC News.
Biden plans to meet with Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement, and to call on Congress to pass border and migration legislation and funding. He is not expected to announce executive actions imposing new limits on asylum seekers’ ability to seek protection at the border, a step that the White House is considering and might announce ahead of the March 7 State of the Union presidential address.
“Immigration was by far the most dominant topic of discussion” during a February 23 White House meeting with state governors, NBC News reported.
- Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Biden Will Make Rare Visit to Southern Border on Same Day as Trump” (The New York Times, February 26, 2024).
- “Maggie Haberman @Maggienyt on Twitter” (Twitter, February 26, 2024).
- Colleen Long, Jill Colvin, Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller, “Biden and Trump Both Plan Trips to the Mexico Border Thursday, Dueling for Advantage on Immigration” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 26, 2024).
- Mike Memoli, Monica Alba, “How Biden’s Border Trip Came Together” (NBC News, February 26, 2024).
- Kristen Holmes, Michael Williams, Mj Lee, Priscilla Alvarez, “Biden and Trump to Visit Us-Mexico Border on Same Day This Week” (CNN, February 26, 2024).
- Marianne Levine, Toluse Olorunnipa, Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Biden and Trump Head to the Border for Dueling Visits Thursday” (The Washington Post, February 26, 2024).
- John C. Moritz, “Biden to Visit Texas-Mexico Border Thursday. Will He Change the Vexing Issue’s Narrative?” (The Austin American-Statesman, February 26, 2024).
Senate Democrats appear likely to dismiss the Republican-majority House’s impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without holding an actual trial, a move that would require just a simple majority vote.
- Ursula Perano, “Senate Democrats May Cut Mayorkas Impeachment Trial Short” (Politico, February 26, 2024).
Republicans, including Trump, are blaming Biden for the February 22 murder, allegedly committed by a Venezuelan man, of a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia.
Border Patrol had released José Ibarra from custody in El Paso in September 2022, at a time when the El Paso sector was the second-busiest of the agency’s nine U.S.-Mexico border sectors. It is not clear whether Ibarra applied for asylum. ICE claims that he was arrested in New York City in August 2023 but released without a transfer to ICE custody; New York officials say they have no record of an arrest.
- Jeff Amy, Sharon Johnson, “Republicans Say Georgia Student’s Killing Shows Biden’s Migration Policies Have Failed” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 26, 2024).
- Maria Sacchetti, Nick Miroff, “Slaying of Georgia Student Becomes Part of U.S. Immigration Debate” (The Washington Post, February 26, 2024).
Progressive Democratic Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-New York) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) introduced legislation that would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to over 300,000 Ecuadorians in the United States fleeing “unspeakable violence.”
- Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-New York), “Representatives Espaillat and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce the Temporary Protected Status for Ecuador Act” (U.S. House of Representatives, February 26, 2024).
A Monmouth University poll found a majority of U.S. respondents (53 percent), for the first time, favoring border wall construction.
- Christian Hall, “Majority of Voters Support Building a Wall Along Us-Mexico Border” (Bloomberg, Yahoo!, February 26, 2024).
- Lauren Sforza, “Majority of Americans, for First Time, Support Building Border Wall” (The Hill, February 26, 2024).
- Martin Pengelly, “Biden and Trump to Visit Us-Mexico Border on Same Day” (The Guardian (Uk), February 26, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
Curbed visited St. Brigid, a former Catholic school in New York City, which has become a “reticketing center” for migrants seeking new shelter. Many endured harrowing journeys and are now struggling with the city’s shelter system and often ending up living on the streets; some voice a desire to return home.
- Jay Bulger, Paula Aceves, “The Migrants Outside St. Brigid” (Curbed, February 26, 2024).
Of more than 100 ancient saguaro cacti that construction crews dug up and transplanted while building Trump-era border wall in Arizona, “dozens” have died.
- Tori Gantz, “More Than 100 Saguaros Were Transplanted in Trump’s Rush to Build Border Wall. Many Have Died” (Fronteras Desk, February 26, 2024).
- Anna Skinner, “Cactuses Dying After Being Moved for Border Wall Sparks Concern” (Newsweek, February 26, 2024).
On the Right
- Anna Giaritelli, “Frustrated Border Agents Want Senate to Move on Mayorkas Impeachment” (The Washington Examiner, February 26, 2024).
- Victor Nava, “Head of Border Patrol Union Slams Biden’s ‘Self-Serving’ Trip to Southern Border: ‘Too Little, Too Late’” (The New York Post, February 26, 2024).
- Joseph A. Wulfsohn, “Fox News’ Sean Hannity to Join Trump at Us Southern Border” (Fox News, February 26, 2024).