Developments
President Joe Biden told a Univision interviewer that he is still exploring executive actions to limit access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
A measure to “shut down” asylum when daily migrant encounters cross a certain threshold was part of a “border deal” that failed in the Senate in early February.
Without such a measure in the law, it is not clear what legal backing Biden could have for using executive authority to deny the right to seek asylum, which the Refugee Act of 1980 guarantees. “There’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation,” Biden said. “And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court.”
- Eric Garcia, “Biden Blames Trump for Border Chaos in Univision Interview” (The Independent (UK), April 9, 2024).
- Hans Nichols, “Biden Exploring if He Has “Power” to Shut Down Border Unilaterally” (Axios, April 9, 2024).
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is to testify about his department’s budget today in hearings before the House and Senate appropriations committees. Mayorkas is likely to endure criticism—and perhaps insults—about the Department’s border and migration policies from Republican legislators, especially in the Republican-majority House, which narrowly voted to impeach him in February. Next week (April 16), Mayorkas will appear before the House Homeland Security Committee, where the Republican leadership spearheaded its effort to impeach him.
- Ellen M. Gilmer, “Mayorkas to Face House Republicans Who Spearheaded Impeachment” (Bloomberg Government, April 9, 2024).
The Democratic-majority Senate planned to spend a few hours on Thursday debating the Mayorkas impeachment while using procedural measures to “dispose” of it without going to a formal trial (which would have zero possibility of convicting Mayorkas). House Republicans, however, decided yesterday to delay their presentation of impeachment charges to the Senate for another week.
- Mary Clare Jalonick, “Mayorkas Impeachment Trial Set to Start in Senate Next Week, but May Be Over Before It Starts” (Associated Press, Associated Press, April 9, 2024).
- Stef W. Kight, Stephen Neukam, “Senate Democrats to Dismiss Mayorkas Charges, Skip Full Impeachment Trial” (Axios, April 9, 2024).
- Burgess Everett, “How Senate Dems Plan to Quickly ‘Dispose’ of Mayorkas Trial” (Politico, April 9, 2024).
- Michael Wilner, “Alejandro Mayorkas Still Believes in the Promise of America’s Immigrants” (The Miami Herald, April 9, 2024).
Recent years’ sharp rises in migrant deaths continue in Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes the border in far west Texas and all of New Mexico. After a record 149 remains recovered there in the 2023 fiscal year, the death toll stands at 34 halfway through the 2024 fiscal year, and the hot summer months are yet to come. Dehydration, heat exhaustion, and drowning are the principal causes of death.
- “Lauren Villagran @Laurenvillagran on Twitter” (Twitter, April 9, 2024).
- Julian Resendiz, “Campaign Warns Migrants About Dangers of Deserts, Mountains and Canals” (Border Report, April 9, 2024).
The Border Chronicle published an interview with Bryce, a volunteer with No More Deaths who led the project that produced a report and database, published in March, documenting migrant deaths in the El Paso sector. In June 2023, he said, “something like 40 percent more people died in Doña Ana County in New Mexico than the entire state of Arizona. Most of these deaths were close to the highway or close to a town.”
- Melissa del Bosque, “A New Report Shows Skyrocketing Deaths in el Paso, New Mexico Border Region” (The Border Chronicle, April 9, 2024).
Guatemala’s La Hora reported on the Trump-era border wall “improvements” that contributed to the fatality of migrant Heidy Poma Pérez’s March 21 fall from the border wall near San Diego. Friends and relatives have set up a GoFundMe to pay for the repatriation of her remains.
- Sergio Morales, “Cuáles Son las Dimensiones del Muro Fronterizo Donde Ocurrió la Tragedia de una Guatemalteca el Mes Pasado” (La Hora (Guatemala), April 9, 2024).
The House of Representatives’ Rules Committee cleared the way for prompt consideration of a resolution, introduced by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), “Denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies.”
The resolution from Gonzales, who represents the largest congressional district along the border and is facing a primary runoff challenger on his right wing, states that “the Biden administration has allowed at least 6,400,000 illegal aliens from the southwest border to travel to American communities.” In fact, the latest (April 5) report from the DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, current through December, shows a total of 3,356,380 CBP releases since January 2021.
- Julian Resendiz, “Gonzales: Biden Has Let in 9.5 Million Migrants” (Border Report, April 9, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The American Immigration Council’s Adriel Orozco shared an overview of what is in the U.S. government’s 2024 Homeland Security appropriation, which became law on March 23. It recalls that the budget package includes substantial increases for CBP and ICE. It cuts funding for the Case Management Pilot Program, which helps keep released migrants in the immigration system without GPS surveillance, and the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which supports nonprofits that receive migrants released from custody.
- Adriel Orozco, “Fy 2024 Government Funding Package Is a Mixed-Bag on Immigration” (American Immigration Council, April 9, 2024).
The cuts to the SSP will deal a blow to cities receiving migrants, both at the border and in the U.S. interior, reported a second American Immigration Council post, from Juan Avilez.
- Juan Avilez, “The Federal Government Is Cutting Aid for Migrant Shelters and Services. What Will States Do Now?” (American Immigration Council, April 9, 2024).
The Texas state government’s military “Forward Operating Base” under construction near Eagle Pass could cost up to $400 million to maintain by 2026, recalled Bob Libal at Human Rights Watch.
- Bob Libal, “Texas Constructing Massive Anti-Migrant Military Base” (Human Rights Watch, April 9, 2024).
The conservative talking point about young migrant men being “military age males,” and thus threatening, can be traced back to Obama-era use of the term to describe civilian men killed by drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Matthew Petti, “How Obama Gave Trump the ‘Military-Age Males’ Talking Point” (Reason, April 9, 2024).
On the Right
- Matthew Tragesser, “Threat From China Is Growing at Our Southern Border” (Heritage Foundation, The Washington Times, April 9, 2024).