Developments
“You know, now, a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told a conservative radio host. “And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” apparently referring to migrants in the United States as genetically inferior.
- Patrick Svitek, “Trump Suggests ‘Bad Genes’ to Blame for Undocumented Immigrants Who Commit Murders” (The Washington Post, October 7, 2024).
- Isabela Dias, “Trump Says Migrants Have Brought “Bad Genes” Into “Our Country”” (Mother Jones, October 7, 2024).
At CBS News 60 Minutes, reporter Bill Whitaker asked Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, whether it was “a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did” after Donald Trump left office. (The Biden administration left Trump’s Title 42 pandemic expulsions policy in place for over 27 months.)
Harris replied, “It’s a longstanding problem. And solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions,” adding that the Biden-Harris administration’s recent asylum restrictions at the border have cut Border Patrol apprehensions in half. Whitaker sought to ask whether the administration should have acted earlier to restrict asylum, though the legal basis for the June ban on most asylum access between border ports of entry remains in dispute.
- Aliza Chasan, Bill Whitaker, Cassidy Mcdonald, Lacrai Scott, Marc Lieberman, Matthew Riley, Rome Hartman, “Kamala Harris Defends Record on Immigration: “Solutions Are at Hand”” (60 Minutes, CBS News, October 7, 2024).
- Bill Whitaker, “Kamala Harris Makes the Case in 60 Minutes Interview for Why She Should Be President” (60 Minutes, CBS News, October 7, 2024).
- Max Matza, “Harris Talks on 60 Minutes About Immigration and the Economy” (BBC (UK), October 7, 2024).
- David Zimmermann, “Harris Dodges Question on Whether Lax Border Policies Were ‘Mistake’” (National Review, October 7, 2024).
In Chiapas, Mexico, civilian prosecutors have begun investigating soldiers’ October 1 killing of six migrants aboard a vehicle. A prominent Mexican human rights organization, the Foundation for Justice, recalled that National Guard soldiers who killed migrants aboard a vehicle in Chiapas in 2021 still have not been brought to justice.
- Jared Laureles, Jessica Xantomila, “Agentes de la Gn Que Dispararon a Migrantes Hace 3 Anos Siguen Libres” (La Jornada (Mexico), October 7, 2024).
A “caravan” of migrants that departed Mexico’s southern border zone city of Tapachula, Chiapas over the weekend now numbers about 1,000 people and has walked about 45 miles. A woman from Venezuela told Milenio that her family “decided to leave Tapachula due to a lack of employment and opportunities, and in addition to the delay in the response from CBP One, they are forced to remain stranded at the southern border of Mexico.”
- Jhonatan Gonzalez, “Migrantes Llegan a Escuintla Tras 3 Dias de Recorrido” (Milenio (Mexico), October 7, 2024).
At Border Patrol’s checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, north of McAllen, agents arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contractor attempting to transport 39 undocumented migrants aboard a bus with a falsified manifest.
- “Dave Hendricks @Dmhj on Twitter” (Twitter, October 7, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
Three pieces probed reactions to two Biden administration policy changes, revealed last week, that shrink legal migration pathways: an adjustment making it harder to reverse a June asylum restriction at the border, and a decision not to renew the two-year humanitarian parole status granted to some citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
Boston Globe columnist Marcela García argued that with these moves the Democrats, particularly Kamala Harris’s election campaign, are trying to preserve immigration pathways while simultaneously trying to minimize the lead that Donald Trump currently enjoys when voters are polled on the border and migration issue.
Times of San Diego spoke to local migrant rights advocates and service providers who don’t see recent harder-line policies having a long-term impact on migration flows. “I think it’s going to collapse like it’s collapsed in the past, and at some point we’re hoping that humane, sensible solutions will be taken more seriously,” said Margaret Cargioli of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “Our leaders are choosing politics over what’s right, and we cannot allow that,” added Lilian Serrano of the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
In a city with well over 100,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the Houston Chronicle spoke to local migration advocates and service providers who view the non-renewal of humanitarian parole as “electoral politics” and are urging community members to seek alternative protection pathways and “not to panic.”
- Marcela Garcia, “Beyond Trump-Y: Harris’s Delicate Balance on Immigration” (The Boston Globe, October 7, 2024).
- Brooke Binkowski, “‘These Policies Will Fail’: Immigration Advocacy Groups React to Asylum Ruling” (Times of San Diego, October 7, 2024).
- Sam Gonzalez Kelly, “Houston Immigration Advocates Worry as Biden Declines to Extend Protections for Certain Migrants” (The Houston Chronicle, October 7, 2024).
- Sandra Sanchez, “Immigrants in Chnv Parole Program Could Be Deported After 2 Years, Dhs Says” (Border Report, October 7, 2024).
Andrew Selee and Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute authored an analysis discerning the outlines of “a new architecture for managing migration” emerging from the Biden administration’s combination of legal migration pathways, increased regional cooperation, and tightened asylum access at the border.
- Andrew Selee, Doris Meissner, “The Nascent Architecture for Managing U.S. Border Arrivals Shows Promise” (Migration Policy Institute, October 7, 2024).
On the Right
- Madeline Leesman, “Tim Walz’s Take on Harris’ Handling of the Southern Border Is Something Else” (TownHall, October 7, 2024).