Developments
An Indiana National Guardsman in El Paso, part of the Texas state government’s “Operation Lone Star” troop deployment, shot his weapon at a migrant who had allegedly stabbed two people on Sunday afternoon.
The incident occurred along the edge of the Rio Grande. The alleged stabbing took place on the U.S. side of the river, which is very narrow in El Paso; the attacker ran back into Mexico. Two migrants were treated for “superficial wounds.”
There is little other information. The Texas Military Department confirmed that a guardsman “discharged a weapon in a border-related incident.”
This is the second time that guardsmen have fired on a migrant allegedly wielding a knife. In August 2023, a Texas National Guardsman stationed near the El Paso side of the Paso del Norte bridge fired a shot into Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, wounding the leg of a Mexican man on the opposite riverbank. The shooting occurred “after three men on the Mexican side of the border started attacking a group of migrants with a knife as the migrants attempted to cross the river,” the Washington Post reported at the time, citing a CBP official’s account.
- Ali Bradley, “Stabbing Adds to Increased Violence in el Paso Sector” (NewsNation, April 15, 2024).
- Fernie Ortiz, “National Guard Member Shoots Migrant Seen Stabbing Another, Document Shows” (Border Report, April 15, 2024).
- Jake Allen, “Reports: Migrant Shot by Indiana National Guard Soldier at Southern Border” (The Indianapolis Star, April 15, 2024).
- Aaron Martinez, “Border Shooting Involving Indiana National Guard Troop in el Paso Under Investigation” (The El Paso Times, April 15, 2024).
In Nogales, Sonora, asylum seekers’ waits for CBP One appointments now often last seven or eight months, reports Christina Ascencio of Human Rights First. The Nogales port of entry, the only CBP One destination between Calexico, California and El Paso, Texas, offers only 100 appointments per day.
- “Christina Asencio @christielaine23 on Twitter” (Twitter, April 15, 2024).
Texas’s state government has begun construction of a segment of state-funded border wall near the Rio Grande in Zapata county, on private land whose owner approved of it, Border Report reported. It is the first state border wall to go up in south Texas.
- Sandra Sanchez, “1st Segment of Texas-Funded Border Wall in Zapata County Is Going Up” (Border Report, April 15, 2024).
The House of Representatives’ Republican majority is expected to send its impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Democratic-majority Senate today. The measure, which passed the House by a single vote in February on a second attempt, is not expected to get a high-profile reception in the Senate.
“Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is expected to quickly bring an end to the matter, which Democrats say is a politically motivated misuse of the impeachment process,” Reuters reported. Republicans allege that Mayorkas’s management of the border and migration constitute “high crimes and misdemeanors”; the Senate is certain not to convict, and even an actual trial is looking unlikely.
- Richard Cowan, “Us Senate Seen Swiftly Ending Impeachment of Biden’s Top Border Official” (Reuters, Reuters, April 16, 2024).
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the “customs enforcement” arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is launching an effort this week to build a separate identity from ICE, an agency more frequently associated with arresting and deporting migrants from the U.S. interior. “The makeover partly aims to appease senior HSI agents who have sought a breakaway because so many major U.S. cities have adopted policies limiting cooperation with ICE,” reported the Washington Post’s Nick Miroff.
The 2022 Homeland Security Act lashed HSI together with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) branch, which detains and deports migrants. While it would take an act of law to separate HSI from ICE, agents will henceforth carry a separate badge, and “independent branding” will de-emphasize the ICE affiliation.
- Nick Miroff, “Homeland Security Investigative Agency Seeks Rebrand, Without Ice” (The Washington Post, April 15, 2024).
Six moderate Democratic House members, led by Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who represents a New Mexico border district, introduced a resolution last week “Condemning Republican inaction to address comprehensive immigration reform and border security.”
- Susan Dunlap, “Vasquez Calls Out Republicans for ‘Inaction’ on Border Policy” (NM Political Report, April 16, 2024).
- Julian Resendiz, “Democrats Return Favor, Blame Gop for Border Crisis” (Border Report, April 15, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The UN Refugee Agency published an update about Darién Gap migration, with the results of 109 interviews with migrants. 20 percent of them, it turns out, do not have the United States as their intended destination. 70 percent of respondents were Venezuelan, but only 44 percent of those came directly from Venezuela—the rest had already left their native country and had been living elsewhere in South America.
- “Mixed Movements Official Data Darien Province, Panama-Colombia Border” (UN Refugee Agency, April 16, 2024).
UNHCR also released a report summarizing its surveys of migrants transiting Guatemala in 2023. It found 42 percent of them were leaving their countries for reasons of “violence or conflict,” with 72 percent of Ecuadorian people giving that response. 65 percent said that they had suffered mistreatment or abuse on their journey, usually robberies, extortions, fraud, or threats.
- “Acnur Guatemala – Monitoreo de Movimientos Mixtos. Informe Anual 2023” (UN Refugee Agency, April 15, 2024).
On the Right
- Bethany Blankley, “Majority of Voters Polled Believe U.S. Is Being Invaded at Southern Border” (The Center Square, April 15, 2024).
- Matthew Tragesser, “Threat From China Is Growing at Our Southern Border” (The Heritage Foundation, April 15, 2024).
- Jennie Taer, “Californians Are Buying Up Guns After Border Patrol Starts Dumping Thousands of Migrants on Streets” (The New York Post, April 15, 2024).