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Developments

President Biden will visit Brownsville, Texas tomorrow, the second U.S.-Mexico border visit of his administration. Republican candidate Donald Trump will be several hours’ drive west, at the border in Eagle Pass.

• Rob Garver, “In Border Visits, Biden and Trump Will Focus on Different Priorities” (Voice of America, February 27, 2024).

The President will not announce any new executive actions tomorrow, like new limits on asylum seekers’ ability to seek protection at the border, said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Media reports last week indicated that the White House is considering such a step, despite a lack of firm legal footing for curbing asylum access.

• Bradford Betz, “KJP Says Biden Has No Plans to Announce Executive Order During Border Visit: ‘You Need a Legislative Solution’” (Fox News, February 27, 2024).

Border visits, the New York Times noted, have “become a compulsory bit of political theater for leaders who want to show they care about immigration.”

• Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “How Visiting the U.S. Border Became a Potent Form of Political Theater” (The New York Times, February 28, 2024).

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas are meeting today with counterparts from Guatemala and Mexico to discuss “actions to strengthen humane migration management, joint collaboration to address the root causes of irregular migration and displacement, and ways to expand lawful pathways in the Western Hemisphere.”

• “Trilateral Migration Ministerial With Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States” (U.S. Department of State, February 27, 2024).

For the first time since 2019, a Gallup Poll found that immigration is what Americans regard to be “the most important issue facing the country.” 28 percent of respondents cited immigration, up from 20 percent a month ago.

• Jeffrey M. Jones, “Immigration Surges to Top of Most Important Problem List” (Gallup, February 27, 2024).
• Faith E. Pinho, “Immigration Rises to Top of Voters’ Minds Ahead of Super Tuesday, Polls Find” (The Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2024).

PBS NewsHour analyzed the February 22 murder of a Georgia nursing student, allegedly committed by a Venezuelan man whom Border Patrol released from custody in September 2022, when the Title 42 policy was still in place. Charis Kubrin, a professor of criminology, law and society at U.C. Irvine, recalled: “across all this research, by and large, we find that immigrants do not engage in more crime than native-born counterparts, and immigration actually can cause crime to go down, rather than up.”

• Amna Nawaz, Eliot Barnhart, “Murder of Georgia Student Fuels Heated Debate Over Immigration Policies” (PBS, February 27, 2024).

CalMatters covered the resumption of “street releases” of asylum seekers released from CBP custody in San Diego, where elevated numbers of migrant arrivals exhausted resources for a county-funded “welcome center,” which closed its doors last week. Confused migrants are now being left at a trolley station, as volunteers struggle to orient them. Advocates allege that the county’s money was not spent sustainably.

• Wendy Fry, “Border Patrol Is Dropping Off Hundreds of Migrants at San Diego Trolley Station After Welcome Center Closes” (CalMatters, February 27, 2024).

San Diego County supervisors voted down a motion asking the federal government to shut down the border temporarily at moments of large-scale arrivals of asylum seekers. (“Shutting down” the border would make little difference, as asylum seekers have already crossed the border onto U.S. soil where they have a legal right to petition for protection.)

• Allison Ash, “San Diego County Will Not Ask Federal Government to Close Tijuana Border” (NBC San Diego, February 27, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

A harrowing, in-depth report from Quinto Elemento Lab described criminal organizations’ trafficking of Honduran women in the dangerous southern Mexican border town of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, and the complicity of Mexican and Honduran government officials.

• Rodrigo Soberanes, “Honduras-Frontera Comalapa: La Ruta de la Trata” (Quinto Elemento Lab, Chiapas Paralelo (Chiapas), February 28, 2024).

A judicial settlement for victims of the Trump administration’s family separations allows them to apply for temporary legal status, work authorization, and some services in the United States, but does not guarantee them legal representation for their applications, reported Isabela Dias at Mother Jones.

• Isabela Dias, “The Migrant Families Separated Under Trump Are Still in Legal Limbo” (Mother Jones, February 27, 2024).

At the Guardian, Luke Taylor covered studies from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the UN Refugee Agency indicating that in South America, integrating Venezuelan migrants and refugees will contribute 0.1 to 0.25 percentage points to host countries’ economic growth every year between 2017 and 2030.

• Luke Taylor, “Venezuelan Migrants Boost Economies of South American Countries, Studies Find” (The Guardian (Uk), February 27, 2024).

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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).

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Developments

In a February 23 White House meeting with state governors, President Joe Biden confirmed that he is considering executive actions to make asylum harder to obtain at the U.S.-Mexico border, but added that existing laws and budgets leave him with few options.

• Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller, “Biden Tells Governors He’s Eyeing Executive Action on Immigration, Seems ‘Frustrated’ With Lawyers” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 23, 2024).
• Alison Main, Camila Dechalus, Priscilla Alvarez, “Migrant Crisis Looms Over Governors’ Gathering at the White House” (CNN, February 25, 2024).
• Asma Khalid, Tamara Keith, “Biden Is Looking at Options for the Border. But He’s Running Into Legal Issues” (National Public Radio, February 23, 2024).
• Lisa Kashinsky, “‘Biden Needs to Do His Job’: Republican Governors Reject President’s Border Deal Push” (Politico, February 25, 2024).

Migrant rights defense groups and progressive legislators continue to voice outrage about the possible executive actions, which came to light in news reporting on February 21.

• Joey Garrison, Lauren Villagran, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, “President Joe Biden Faces Progressive Backlash as He Mulls Executive Action on Border” (USA Today, February 23, 2024).
• Myah Ward, “Progressive Groups Preemptively Rip Biden Over Immigration Executive Actions” (Politico, February 23, 2024).
• Michael D. Shear, “Biden Tries to Flip the Politics of Immigration” (The New York Times, February 23, 2024).

As of February 25, year-to-date migration through the Darién Gap totaled over 68,400 people, about 22,700 more than the same period in 2023, EFE reported.

• “Mas de 68.400 Migrantes Han Cruzado el Darien en 2024” (EFE, EFE, February 25, 2024).

So far this year, the U.S. government has returned 12,144 Guatemalan citizens to their country on deportation flights.

• Cristobal Veliz, “Migracion Reporta 1 Mil 757 Guatemaltecos Retornados de Estados Unidos Esta Semana” (La Hora (Guatemala), February 23, 2024).

The Texas Newsroom obtained invoices for four flights that Texas’s state government chartered to fly asylum-seeking migrants to New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The total price tag of $845,000 was well over $1,000 per passenger.

• Sergio Martinez-Beltran, “Texas Spent Nearly $1 Million on Four Flights for Migrants, Records Show” (The Texas Newsroom, KUT 90.5, February 23, 2024).

A poll of Venezuelan citizens living in the United States found that more than 65 percent would return to Venezuela if the political opposition were to win this year’s presidential elections, a dim possibility amid rising political repression.

• Andreina Itriago Acosta, Eric Martin, “Regreso de Migrantes de Venezuela Requiere un Cambio Politico, Segun Encuesta” (Bloomberg, February 23, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

Analyses at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times examined why migrant apprehensions are up (though leveling off) at the Arizona and California borders and declining in Texas. “Stepped-up enforcement efforts by the governments of Mexico, Panama and Colombia, and heightened violence by cartels on the Mexican side of the Texas border have likely slowed expected migration into that state,” wrote Andrea Castillo at the LA Times.

• Andrea Castillo, “Migrant Arrests Are Up Along the Border in California and Dropping in Texas. Why?” (The Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2024).
• Nick Miroff, “Fewer Migrants Are Crossing Into Texas. Gov. Abbott Is Claiming Credit.” (The Washington Post, February 23, 2024).
• Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “Arizona Sector Becomes No. 1 Hotspot for Migrant Crossings, Despite Border Walls and Treacherous Terrain” (CBS News, February 24, 2024).

Asylum-seeker arrivals, and resulting Border Patrol releases, into San Diego have increased so rapidly that they have exhausted a county budget for a short-term migrant welcome center. As a result, CBP is leaving migrants outside a bus station.

• Elliot Spagat, “Border Patrol Releases Hundreds of Migrants at a Bus Stop After San Diego Runs Out of Aid Money” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 23, 2024).

The New Yorker, profiling El Paso’s Annunciation House, and the Arizona Daily Star, profiling Casa Alitas, pointed to the key role that migrant shelters play in receiving asylum seekers released from CBP custody. Shelters are facing a rising wave of rhetorical and legal attacks from right-wing politicians.

• Rachel Monroe, “El Paso’s Saint of the Border Negotiates a New Reality” (The New Yorker, February 23, 2024).
• Tim Steller, “Demonized Ngos Stand Between Tucson and Chaos” (The Arizona Daily Star, February 25, 2024).

The Center for Public Integrity revealed that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which receives and finds sponsors for migrant children who arrive unaccompanied, handled 2,724 reports of missing migrant children in the United States in 2022, many more than in previous years. Federal efforts to locate the missing children are insufficient.

• Karen Rodriguez, Kristian Hernandez, “When Migrant Children Disappear, Many Cases Remain Unsolved” (Center for Public Integrity, February 23, 2024).

In Eagle Pass, Texas, first responders are “overwhelmed and increasingly traumatized” by the frequency with which they rescue migrants—or recover their bodies—from the Rio Grande, NBC News reported. “On some shifts, firefighters with the Eagle Pass Fire Department can spend three to five hours in the water.”

• Alicia Victoria Lozano, Morgan Chesky, “First Responders in a Texas Town Are Struggling to Cope With the Trauma of Recovering Bodies From the Rio Grande” (NBC News, February 25, 2024).

A Rolling Stone feature looked at the impact that the Texas state government’s border security and migration crackdown is having on daily life in Eagle Pass.

• Christopher Hooks, “The Human Toll of Greg Abbott’s War at the Border” (Rolling Stone, February 25, 2024).

In Arizona, younger Democratic voters are voicing frustration at the Biden administration’s rightward turn on border and migration policy, the Washington Post reported.

• Sabrina Rodriguez, “In Arizona, Biden’s Handling of Immigration Fuels Frustration Among Key Voters” (The Washington Post, February 25, 2024).

Congressional Republicans often urge President Biden to revive the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy despite its human rights impact, even though “it’s not clear Mexico’s government would play along,” Joseph Zeballos-Roig wrote at Semafor.

• Joseph Zeballos-Roig, “The Huge Unanswered Question About the Gop’s Favorite Border Policy” (Semafor, February 26, 2024).

Voice of America and Mexico’s Milenio both published articles about Haitian migrants who have decided to settle in Mexico instead of pushing on to the United States.

• “Giving Up on Us, Haitian Migrants Opt for ‘Mexican Dream’” (Voice of America, February 25, 2024).
• Amilcar Salazar Mendez, “Migrantes Haitianos Recaen en el Suelo Mexicano” (Milenio (Mexico), February 25, 2024).

On the Right

• Michael Lee, “Exclusive: Former Ice Director Vows to Make 2024 Elections About Border Security: ‘Country-Ending Crisis’” (Fox News, February 25, 2024).
• Natalie Venegas, “Joe Biden Approaching Treason Over Border Crisis, Texas Lt. Governor Warns” (Newsweek, February 24, 2024).
• Hanna Panreck, “Conservatives Outraged After Axios Reposts Article Claiming Southern Border Is ‘More Fortified’ Than Ever” (Fox News, February 25, 2024).

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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).

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Developments

In a new escalation against humanitarian workers, Texas’s attorney-general, Ken Paxton (R), is seeking to revoke the license of a 47-year-old Catholic non-profit migrant shelter in El Paso. Annunciation House works with CBP and El Paso’s city government to receive asylum seekers released from federal custody, helping migrants to avoid being left on the city’s streets and to connect to destinations in the U.S. interior. Paxton accuses the shelter of facilitating human smuggling, and demanded that it hand over a large trove of client records with no advance notice.

• William Melhado, “Ken Paxton Sues to Revoke an el Paso Nonprofit’s State Registration After It Didn’t Immediately Hand Over Client Records” (The Texas Tribune, February 20, 2024).
• Robert Moore, “Annunciation House Targeted by Texas Ag in Latest Escalation of State Immigration Enforcement” (El Paso Matters, February 20, 2024).

Annunciation House will hold a press conference on Friday.

• “Bob Moore @BobMooreNews on Twitter“ (Twitter, February 20, 2024).

Texas has spent over $148 million to bus 102,000 migrants to Democratic Party-governed cities elsewhere in the United States. That is $1,451 per bus ride. The figure comes from public records obtained by The Texas Newsroom, a public radio journalism outlet.

• Sergio Martinez-Beltran, “Texas Has Spent Over $148 Million Busing Migrants to Other Parts of the Country” (The Texas Newsroom, February 20, 2024).

“Let him put as many as he wants,” said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) plan to install a state military base near Eagle Pass. “Supposedly this is how he is going to detain the migrants. Pure politicking! It is not serious.”

• Nick Mordowanec, “Mexico’s President Mocks Greg Abbott Using Military Against Migrants” (Newsweek, February 20, 2024).

Mexico’s army killed two people from Venezuela, and captured three others, in a confrontation in rural Michoacán. Those killed and arrested were reportedly migrants recruited by organized crime.

• Iris Velazquez, “Abate Ejercito a 2 Venezolanos en Michoacan; Caen Otros 3” (Reforma (Mexico), February 20, 2024).

NBC News identified the reason why Border Patrol’s acting deputy chief, Joel Martinez, was suspended from his post: an investigation into multiple claims of sexual misconduct and harassment on the job. The Washington Post had broken the Martinez story last week without identifying the reason for his suspension. The case recalls late 2022 allegations against Tony Barker, then Border Patrol’s number-three official.

• Julia Ainsley, “Border Patrol’s Second-Highest Official Opts to Retire Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations” (NBC News, February 20, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

The Washington Post detailed the Trump campaign’s unprecedented plan for large-scale migrant deportations if the former president is re-elected. Proposals include challenging birthright citizenship, using the military to remove people, and building mass pre-deportation camps.

• Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, Nick Miroff, “Trump and Allies Plotting Militarized Mass Deportations, Detention Camps” (The Washington Post, February 21, 2024).

“We documented a handful of cases where people ended up in the emergency room” because Border Patrol confiscated asylum seekers’ prescription medications and did not return them, Noah Schramm of ACLU Arizona, a principal author of a mid-February report on confiscation of belongings, told the Border Chronicle.

• Melissa del Bosque, “It’s Not Trash, It’s People’s Belongings: A Q&A With Noah Schramm From the Aclu” (The Border Chronicle, February 20, 2024).

The National Immigration Forum published an overview of the “Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act” (H.R. 7372), legislation sponsored by moderate Republicans and centrist Democrats that would allow some U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel while enabling expulsions, a renewed “Remain in Mexico” program, and other limits on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

• Christian Penichet-Paul, “Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act: Bill Summary” (National Immigration Forum, February 20, 2024).

Recent poll data do not show any improvement in the Biden administration’s approval rating on border and migration issues after Republicans scuttled the Senate “border deal,” according to the Washington Post.

• Aaron Blake, “Despite n.Y. Special Election Win, the Border Still Dogs Biden” (The Washington Post, February 20, 2024).

A fact-check from the Colombian outlet La Silla Vacía pointed out that while broad-based U.S. sanctions exacerbated Venezuela’s economic crisis, large-scale migration from the country had already begun, for other reasons, before the Trump administration imposed them.

• Alejandra Gamez, Maria Jose Echeverry, Santiago Amaya Barrantes, “Petro se Equivoca: “Bloqueo Economico” No Produjo la Migracion Venezolana” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), February 21, 2024).

On the Right

• Nolan Rappaport, “Why Is Biden Letting in Millions of Illegal Border Crossers?” (The Hill, February 20, 2024).

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Developments

Axios reported that as President Joe Biden prepares for his March 7 State of the Union address, “one bold move” he has considered “is an executive order that would dramatically stanch the record flow of migrants into the Southwest. This could even happen in the two weeks before the address.” The article offered no further details about what such an executive order might contain, nor is it clear what Biden could do within existing law to “stanch” arrivals of asylum seekers.

• “Biden’s Reset Moment” (Axios, February 19, 2024).

54,547 people have crossed the Darién Gap into Panama so far this year, according to a statement from the country’s security ministry. Minister Juan Manuel Pino predicts that migration through the Darién in 2024 will exceed the 520,000 who passed through the treacherous region last year.

Pino estimated that criminal organizations in the Darién made about $820 million from smuggling migrants last year.

Panama has extended through July its so-called “Shield” campaign, the statement reads, “with a greater number of land, naval and air troops to create a greater blockade on the border with Colombia.”

• “Este Ano la Cifra de Migrantes Irregulares Sera Superior a 2023: Afirmo el Ministro Pino” (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (Panama), February 19, 2024).
• “Traficantes de Panama Cobraron 820 Mdd Moviendo Migrantes en el Darien” (EFE, Milenio (Mexico), February 19, 2024).

A February 18 tweet from the Ministry records a larger Darién Gap figure: 59,521 migrants year-to-date. Of that total, 38,108 are citizens of Venezuela; 4,777 are from China, 4,532 are from Ecuador, and 4,033 are citizens of Haiti.

• “Ministerio de Seguridad Publica de Panama @Minsegpma on Twitter” (Twitter, February 18, 2024).

The first six weeks of 2024 saw “an important increase in the number of people irregularly entering Honduras,” most with the goal of reaching the United States, reported the UN Refugee Agency. Between January 1 and February 11, 57,202 people had entered Honduras’s southeastern border, more than double the number during the same period in 2023.

• “Honduras – Reporte de Situacion de Movimientos Mixtos No.5 – Enero 2024” (UN Refugee Agency, February 19, 2024).

The death toll is now three from a February 15 armed attack on two vehicles carrying migrants in rural Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona border. The victims are a child from Ecuador and two adult women, likely from Peru and Honduras.

• “Ataque Armado Contra Migrantes en Saric, Sonora, Dejo 3 Muertos y 3 Lesionados; Hay un Menor Entre los Fallecidos, Confirma Fgje” (Proyecto Puente (Mexico), February 19, 2024).
• ““Prendieron las Luces y Empezaron los Balazos”: Asi Fue el Ataque a Migrantes en Sonora, Mexico” (Primicias (Ecuador), February 19, 2024).

A University of Texas at Austin poll found that 59 percent of Texas voters, including 48 percent of those identifying as Democrats, “favor making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the United States.” Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) approval rating was 53 percent, up from 48 percent in December.

• Jalen Wells, Natalie Mccain, “New Poll From University of Texas Shows Most Texans See Crisis on the Border” (KFDX/KJTL, Border Report, February 19, 2024).
• Jasper Scherer, “Gov. Greg Abbott’s Approval Rating Is Rising Amid Border Confrontation With Biden Administration” (The Dallas Morning News, February 19, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

BBC Mundo told the story of a family of Venezuelan asylum seekers who flew to the organized crime-controlled border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for a CBP One appointment at the Laredo port of entry. They missed their appointment because they ended up among thousands whom organized crime groups have kidnapped for ransom in Mexico’s violent border state of Tamaulipas. Now free, they haven’t been able to secure a new appointment using the app.

• Valentina Oropeza Colmenares, ““Nos Secuestran y Nos Roban la Cita Con Migracion en ee.uu.”: La Nueva Modalidad de los Carteles Mexicanos para Extorsionar a los Migrantes en la Frontera” (BBC (UK), February 19, 2024).

“There’s a lot of people in this community that are upset with how the governor is using our community as a political staging area to have this narrative that we’re being invaded,” Jessie Fuentes, who runs a Rio Grande kayak tour business in Eagle Pass, Texas, told the Border Chronicle in an audio interview.

• Pablo de la Rosa, “Eagle Pass Residents Shocked by News That Governor Abbott Will Build Operation Lone Star Base” (The Border Chronicle, February 19, 2024).

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Developments

Salon obtained CBP’s still-unreleased report on unidentified migrant remains found in fiscal year 2022. It reports a record 895 known migrant deaths that year. Humanitarian workers say that this is a significant undercount.

• Levi Stallings, “The Desert “Erases People:” Volunteers Try to Count Migrant Deaths, but the True Number Is Unknown” (Salon, February 18, 2024).

Heavily armed men attacked vehicles carrying migrants late last Thursday night in Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona border. They killed a 4-year-old Ecuadorian boy and injured 10 others.

• Marco A. Flores, “Ataque a Caravana en Sonora Deja un Nino Ecuatoriano Muerto” (Milenio (Mexico), February 17, 2024).
• Cristina Gomez Lima, “Ataque Armado a Migrantes en Sonora” (La Jornada (Mexico), February 17, 2024).

Heavy rainfall has turned outdoor migrant tent shelters in Reynosa and Matamoros, across from McAllen and Brownsville, Texas, into seas of mud, reported Border Report.

• Sandra Sanchez, “Migrants at Muddy Border Camp Brace for More Rain” (Border Report, February 16, 2024).

A Government Accountability Project whistleblower complaint alleges that CBP’s chief medical officer, Dr. Alexander Eastman, pressured his staff to order “fentanyl lollipops” to bring along on a September trip to the United Nations, and secured narcotics for a friend who is a pilot in CBP’s Air and Marine Operations division. The Chief Medical Officers office and its contractor, Loyal Source Services, have been under fire for alleged negligence leading to the May 2023 death of a Honduran-Panamanian girl at a south Texas Border Patrol station.

• Andrea Meza, Dana L. Gold, “Following Years of Internal Whistleblower Disclosures and the Death of a Child in Custody, Government Accountability Project Calls on Congress to Investigate Cbp Medical Contracts” (Government Accountability Project, February 16, 2024).
• Julia Ainsley, “The Top Doctor for Cbp Tried to Order Fentanyl Lollipops for a Helicopter Mission in New York, Whistleblowers Say” (NBC News, February 16, 2024).
• Ben Mathis-Lilley, “Border Patrol Official Accused of Demanding “Fentanyl Lollipops” for Work Trip on a Helicopter” (Slate, February 16, 2024).

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the construction of an 80-acre state National Guard forward operating base near Eagle Pass. It will be able to house between 1,800 and 2,300 soldiers.

• Nicholas Slayton, “Texas Is Building an 80-Acre Forward Operating Base for the National Guard at the Border” (Task & Purpose, February 17, 2024).
• Edgar Sandoval, “Texas Governor Announces New Military Base Camp on Border” (The New York Times, February 16, 2024).
• Rose L. Thayer, “Texas to Spend Nearly $131m on New National Guard Base at Border With Mexico” (Stars and Stripes, February 16, 2024).
• Valerie Gonzalez, “Texas Will Build Camp for National Guard Members in Border City of Eagle Pass” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 16, 2024).

Now that Mexican national guardsmen have set up a camp near a break in the border wall where asylum seekers frequently crossed near Jacumba Springs, California, they “are now crossing the border at another spot four miles east,” CBS News reported.

• Aliza Chasan, Guy Campanile, Lucy Hatcher, “Mexico Sets Up Checkpoint Near San Judas Break After Migrants Cross Into U.S. Through Border Fence Gap” (CBS News, February 18, 2024).

The San Diego and Tijuana-based legal group Al Otro Lado filed a lawsuit against CBP for records surrounding the January 2023 in-custody death of Cuban migrant Idania Osorio Dominguez. Ms. Osorio’s daughter “first learned of her mother’s death through a press release on CBP’s website after weeks of attempting to get answers from the agency regarding her mother’s whereabouts.”

• “Al Otro Lado @alotrolado_org on Twitter” (Twitter, February 16, 2024).

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas discussed migration with Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, at the Munich Security Conference.

• “Mayorkas Meets With Guatemalan Leader Arevalo Following House Impeachment Over Immigration” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 17, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

In Tijuana, several shelters have faced direct attacks and threats from criminal groups, forcing closures and increased security measures, according to Global Sisters Report.

• Jorge Nieto, Yolanda Morales, “Shelters for Migrants on Mexico’s Border Tighten Security” (Global Sisters Report, February 19, 2024).

The New Yorker’s Jonathan Blitzer published an 8,000-word profile and interview with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached last week by House of Representatives Republicans who disapprove of his, and the Biden administration’s, approach to border security and migration.

• Jonathan Blitzer, “The Trials of Alejandro Mayorkas” (The New Yorker, February 17, 2024).

The New York Times’s Eli Saslow visited Arizona borderland ranchers Jim and Sue Chilton, whose remote desert land, long traversed by smugglers and migrants seeking to avoid detection, has now become a destination for asylum seekers, many of them families, from numerous countries.

• Eli Saslow, “A Family Ranch, Swallowed Up in the Madness of the Border” (The New York Times, February 18, 2024).

At the Progressive, Jeff Abbott reported on Guatemala’s decision to dissolve its national police force’s border unit, DIPAFRONT, amid widespread accusations that its members extort migrants to allow them to keep going north. Abbott noted that DIPAFRONT members have received training funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

• Jeff Abbott, “U.S.-Trained Border Security Unit in Guatemala Accused of Extortions Scheme” (The Progressive, February 16, 2024).

“Washington’s failure to oversee where migrants go after entering the U.S. is causing particular pain to New York—and not just because the city has received the largest number of migrants from Texas buses,” wrote Jerusalem Demsas at the Atlantic, but “for political reasons, the Biden administration has abdicated its responsibility to coordinate where asylees from the southwestern border end up.”

• Jerusalem Demsas, “Something’s Fishy About the ‘Migrant Crisis’” (The Atlantic, February 19, 2024).

PolitiFact published an explainer about migrant encounters at the border and the asylum process.

• Sophie Carson, “Politifact – What’s Going on at the Us-Mexico Border, and What Are Asylum and Parole?” (PolitiFact, February 16, 2024).

On the Right

• “Editorial: Biden Alone Owns the Border Crisis — and the Chaos It’s Caused” (The New York Post, February 17, 2024).

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Developments

The House of Representatives is out of session until February 28, but while members are away we can expect discussion of a group of centrist Republicans’ and Democrats’ proposal that includes new restrictions on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and leadership of the House’s slim Republican majority are refusing to consider a package of Ukraine, Israel, and other aid that the Senate passed on February 12, because it does not include the hard-line border restrictions they have been demanding. Instead, ten members of the House, five from each party, are proposing an alternative bill (text/summary from Punchbowl News).

The bill restores foreign aid similar to what is in the Senate bill, but includes some controversial border provisions:

• A one-year DHS authority to shut the border to all undocumented migrants without regard to asylum needs, presumably requiring expulsion to Mexico;
• A one-year authority to expel, into Mexico or alternative countries, all migrants deemed to be “inadmissible” who do not specifically ask for protection;
• A higher standard of fear that asylum seekers would have to meet in screening interviews;
• A prohibition on transporting migrants for any purpose other than adjudicating their status; and
• A one-year restart of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Next steps for this bill, which has yet to be formally introduced, are not clear.

• Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Mica Soellner, “Inside a Key Meeting in Johnson’s Office” (Punchbowl News, February 16, 2024).
• Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong, “House Centrists to Unveil Bipartisan Border and Aid Deal for Ukraine and Israel” (NBC News, February 15, 2024).
• Julia Ainsley, Julie Tsirkin, Monica Alba, “Biden and House Republicans Are Locked in a Standoff Over the Border” (NBC News, February 15, 2024).

Joel Martínez, the acting deputy chief of Border Patrol, was suspended from his duties as he faces allegations of misconduct. Reports do not specify the nature of the misconduct, though Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials specified that Martínez is not under arrest.

• Nick Miroff, “Border Patrol’s Acting Deputy Chief Suspended for Alleged Misconduct” (The Washington Post, February 15, 2024).
• Rebecca Falconer, “Acting Deputy Chief of Border Patrol Suspended Over Misconduct Allegations” (Axios, February 16, 2024).

In Austin, federal District Court Judge David Ezra heard arguments in the Biden administration’s challenge to S.B. 4, a new Texas state law, set to go into effect on March 5, making unauthorized border crossings a state crime punishable by prison. If his questioning and comments were any guide, Judge Ezra, a Reagan appointee, seemed skeptical about Texas’s defense of the law.

• Pooja Salhotra, Uriel J. Garcia, “Texas and Biden Administration Lawyers Face Off in Court Over New Law Making Illegal Border Crossing a State Crime” (The Texas Tribune, February 15, 2024).
• Gus Bova, “America, Texas Spar Over State Deportations Law” (The Texas Observer, February 15, 2024).

A report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector-General faulted the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement for inadequately vetting sponsors or carrying out safety checks after releasing migrant children who arrived unaccompanied. Many migrant teenagers have ended up being made to work in conditions that violate child labor and worker safety standards.

• Hannah Dreier, “U.S. Failed to Safeguard Many Migrant Children, Review Finds” (The New York Times, February 15, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

According to a new Pew Research Center poll, 45 percent of U.S. respondents view the large number of migrants arriving at the border to be a “crisis.” Another 32 percent regard it to be a “major problem.” 80 percent believed that the federal government is doing a “bad job” of dealing with the migration increase. 57 percent believe that more migration increases crime, though data do not back that up at all.

• “How Americans View the Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border, Its Causes and Consequences” (Pew Research Center, February 15, 2024).
• Kierra Frazier, “Dems’ Disapproval of Us Handling of Border Hits Highest Point of Biden’s Tenure, Report Finds” (Politico, February 15, 2024).
• Maria Cramer, Maria Sanchez Diez, Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, “‘Migrant Crime Wave’ Not Supported by Data, Despite High-Profile Cases” (The New York Times, February 15, 2024).
• Philip Bump, “In Immigration, Republicans See More Security Worries Than Economic Ones” (The Washington Post, February 15, 2024).

Humanitarian volunteers in Arizona “reported that Border Patrol agents in Sasabe detained and threatened them, and took pictures of their driver’s licenses” after they transported migrants from freezing conditions along the border wall to the local Border Patrol station over the weekend, Todd Miller reported at the Border Chronicle.

• Todd Miller, “What Is the “Border Crisis”? A Snowstorm, Humanitarian Aid, and the Border Bill” (The Border Chronicle, February 15, 2024).

Texas state authorities have fenced off Shelby Park, the sprawling riverfront park along the border in Eagle Pass, stationing National Guard soldiers and usually preventing Border Patrol agents from entering. But the park’s public golf course remains open, the New York Times’s J. David Goodman reported.

• J. David Goodman, “At Ground Zero on the Texas Border, a Round of ‘Combat Golf’” (The New York Times, February 16, 2024).

On the Right

• Phillip Linderman, “Yes, Mayorkas Is in Fact Breaking the Law” (The American Conservative, February 16, 2024).
• James Bickerton, “Greg Abbott’s Border Policies Are Working” (Newsweek, February 15, 2024).

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Developments

Numerous news analyses yesterday, and a memo to colleagues from Senate Democratic “border deal” negotiator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), argue that a Democratic House candidate’s victory in a February 13 New York special election offers a “roadmap,” “playbook,” or “blueprint” for the Democratic Party to address border security and migration during the 2024 campaign cycle.

Candidate Tom Suozzi, they argue, neutralized Republican attacks and won by leaning into some of the asylum and migration restrictions and increased border policing foreseen in budget legislation that fell to Republican opposition on February 7. At the same time, Suozzi called for more legal migration pathways.

• Benjy Sarlin, David Weigel, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, “Democrats Think They’ve Found a Winning Border Message” (Semafor, February 15, 2024).
• Carl Hulse, “How Senate Democrats Flipped the Border Issue on Republicans” (The New York Times, February 14, 2024).
• Colby Itkowitz, Hannah Knowles, Michael Scherer, “Democrats See 2024 Blueprint in n.Y. Election That Centered on Immigration” (The Washington Post, February 14, 2024).
• Billy House, “Suozzi’s New York Win Gives Democrats Playbook for Border Battle“ (Bloomberg, February 14, 2024).
• Shane Goldmacher, “In New York Win, Democrats Sense a Pivot on Immigration and Border Politics” (The New York Times, February 14, 2024).
• “Joseph Zeballos-Roig @Josephzeballos on Twitter” (Twitter, February 14, 2024).

“Roses are red, violets are blue, the border deal was crushed because of you,” read an official White House tweet in the design of a Valentine’s Day message.

• “The White House @WhiteHouse on Twitter“ (Twitter, February 14, 2024).

Advocates for human rights and immigration reform worry that the Democrats’ strategic shift may normalize the “border deal” text’s provisions denying people a chance to ask for protection on U.S. soil, as laid out in U.S. law and the Refugee Convention, and expelling them into Mexico instead.

• Ally Mutnick, Madison Fernandez, Nicholas Wu, “Some Democrats See an Immigration Blueprint in Ny Win. Progressives Are Worried.” (Politico, February 14, 2024).

On February 12, after the “border deal’s” failure, the Senate passed a measure to fund Ukraine, Israel, and other foreign priorities with no border or migration content included. In the House, the thin Republican majority’s leadership is refusing to bring the measure up for consideration because it now has no border language in it. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has called for a meeting with President Biden to discuss adding border and migration measures to the bill. The White House flatly refused.

• Alexandra Hutzler, Justin Gomez, Lauren Peller, “White House Rejects Johnson’s Requests to Meet With Biden: ‘What Is There to Negotiate?’” (ABC News, February 14, 2024).
• Brett Samuels, “White House Rebuffs Johnson Request for Meeting With Biden: ‘What Is There to Negotiate?’” (The Hill, February 14, 2024).
• “Mica Soellner @Micasoellnerdc on Twitter” (Twitter, February 14, 2024).

The Huffington Post revealed internal Border Patrol emails and text messages showing agents’ continued widespread use of the slur “tonk” to refer to migrants. The agency’s management failed to curb agents’ use of a word that reportedly refers to the sound that their heavy utility flashlights make when hitting a migrant’s head.

• Roque Planas, “Uncovered Emails Show Widespread Use of Racial Slur by Government Agency” (The Huffington Post, February 14, 2024).

In Mexico’s organized crime-heavy border state of Tamaulipas, Doctors Without Borders documented a 70 percent increase, from October to January, in consultations for sexual assault among the migrants the organization has treated in Matamoros and Reynosa.

• Carlos Manuel Juarez, “Consultas por Agresiones Sexuales Contra Migrantes Aumentan 70% en Matamoros y Reynosa, Revela Medicos Sin Fronteras” (Elefante Blanco (Mexico), February 14, 2024).

At least four people died along the Caribbean coast of Panama’s Darién Gap region after a boat carrying about 25 migrants shipwrecked in rough seas.

• “Naufragio en Zona del Darien Deja Migrantes Muertos y Desaparecidos” (Agence France Presse, Primicias (Ecuador), February 14, 2024).

A federal court in Austin will hear arguments today in the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Texas’s state law empowering local law enforcement to arrest and imprison migrants for improperly crossing the border. S.B. 4 will go into effect on March 5. The district judge in the case is David Ezra, a Reagan appointee who ruled months ago that Texas’s “buoy wall” in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass was not legal.

• J. David Goodman, “A Legal Showdown on the Border Between the U.S. and Texas: What to Know” (The New York Times, February 15, 2024).

As House Republicans’ impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas heads to the Senate, the New York Times reported that the Democratic-majority chamber, which is certain to acquit Mayorkas, will pursue a fast, truncated, low-profile process. At Just Security four legal scholars offered a roadmap for how the Senate could quickly dismiss the Mayoras case.

• Karoun Demirjian, “Senate Looks to Quickly Reject Mayorkas Impeachment Charges in Speedy Trial” (The New York Times, February 14, 2024).
• Amit Jain, Joshua Matz, Laurence H. Tribe, Michael J. Gerhardt, “Why and How the Senate Should Swiftly Dismiss the Impeachment Charges Against Mayorkas” (Harvard University, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, University of North Carolina School of Law, Just Security, February 14, 2024).
• Philip Bump, “The Contrived Mayorkas Impeachment Checked Three Gop Boxes” (The Washington Post, February 14, 2024).
• Al Weaver, Rebecca Beitsch, “Mayorkas Impeachment Headed Toward Senate Graveyard” (The Hill, February 14, 2024).

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee), who as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee managed the Mayorkas impeachment, announced that he will not seek re-election this year.

• Catie Edmondson, “Republican Who Oversaw Mayorkas Impeachment Will Not Seek Re-Election” (The New York Times, February 14, 2024).

The migration authority director of Guatemala, which inaugurated a new government last month, is paying a visit to the United States. The Guatemalan Migration Institute’s (IGM) Stuard Rodríguez met with Assistant Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner for International Affairs James Collins and will visit a CBP detention facility and operations center in Tucson, Arizona.

• Cristobal Veliz, “Comisionado de Aduanas y Proteccion de Fronteras de Ee. Uu. Se Reune Con Director de Migracion” (La Hora (Guatemala), February 15, 2024).

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), whose district encompasses hundreds of miles of rural west Texas border, alleged in Newsweek that migration declined in January because “the cartels are trying to carry the Biden administration” and Mexico’s government for “a couple rounds” as elections approach in both countries.

• Alex J. Rouhandeh, Nick Mordowanec, “Mexican Cartels Are Helping Biden With Border: Texas Republican” (Newsweek, February 14, 2024).

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Developments

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released data about its encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in January. The numbers showed a 50 percent drop in Border Patrol apprehensions of migrants from December, which had set a record for the most migration in a single month. (50 percent is the steepest one-month drop in apprehensions that we’ve seen in more than 24 years of monthly data going back to October 1999.)

In particular, Border Patrol’s apprehensions of Venezuelan citizens between the ports of entry dropped 91 percent. Venezuela fell from the number-two nationality of apprehended migrants in December to number seven in January.

Possible reasons for the decline include false rumors urging people to cross in December before the border “closed” at the end of the year; seasonal patterns; and the Mexican government’s stepped-up migration enforcement.

• “Cbp Releases January 2024 Monthly Update” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, February 13, 2024).
• Hamed Aleaziz, Miriam Jordan, “Illegal Border Crossings Plummeted in January” (The New York Times, February 13, 2024).
• Elliot Spagat, Rebecca Santana, “Illegal Border Crossings From Mexico Plunge After a Record-High December, With Fewer From Venezuela” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 13, 2024).
• Anna Giaritelli, “Major Decline in Number of Immigrants Encountered at Border Is First Since Last Summer” (The Washington Examiner, February 13, 2024).

NewsNation visited an example of Mexico’s new efforts to block northbound migrants, a military and National Guard “command center” across from Jacumba Hot Springs, California, where large numbers of asylum seekers have been crossing to turn themselves in to Border Patrol.

• Jorge Ventura, “Inside New Mexican Military Operation at San Diego-Tijuana Border” (NewsNation, February 14, 2024).

After failing by one vote last Wednesday, the House of Representatives’ Republican majority succeeded, again by one vote, in impeaching Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

While the Democratic-majority Senate is certain not to convict and may not even hold something resembling a “trial,” this is the second-ever impeachment of a cabinet official in U.S. history and the first since 1876. All but three Republicans agreed that Mayorkas’s management of the border constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors”; all Democrats voted “no.”

The vote outcome changed because Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) returned after receiving cancer treatments, and Rep. Judy Chu (D-California) contracted COVID and could not be present to vote.

• Karoun Demirjian, “House Republicans Impeach Mayorkas for Border Policies” (The New York Times, February 13, 2024).
• Caitlin Yilek, “House Impeaches Alejandro Mayorkas in Historic Vote, Punishing Dhs Chief Over Handling of U.S.-Mexico Border” (CBS News, February 13, 2024).
• Rebecca Santana, “The House Has Impeached the Homeland Security Secretary. Here’s What You Should Know and What’s Next” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 13, 2024).
• Isabela Dias, “The House Just Voted to Impeach Mayorkas. How Did We Get Here?” (Mother Jones, February 13, 2024).
• Jordain Carney, “House Gop Impeaches Mayorkas After Previous Vote Failure” (Politico, February 13, 2024).

Border security and immigration were the number-one issue of contention in a special congressional election in New York to replace expelled Rep. George Santos (R). Constant attacks seeking to tie him to President Joe Biden’s border and migration policies failed to prevent Tom Suozzi from winning by at least seven percentage points. The House now has 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats.

• David Weigel, Kadia Goba, “Tom Suozzi Thinks He Has the Democrats’ Answer to the Migrant Crisis in the Ny-3 Race” (Semafor, February 13, 2024).

The “borderless” foreign aid bill that passed the Senate on Monday left out Senators’ failed “border deal,” and also cut out $20 billion in border and migration money that the Biden administration had requested. Without that money the Washington Post reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is facing a $700 million budget deficit and may have to release thousands of detained people.

• Nick Miroff, “After border bill failure, ICE considers mass releases to close budget gap ” (The Washington Post, February 14, 2024).

Now that the “borderless” bill has passed the Senate, House Republican leadership is vowing not to bring it to a vote because it lacks border provisions. However, Punchbowl News reported, “There’s already discussion in the House Republican Conference about attaching some border provisions to the bill,” including elements of H.R.2, the draconian bill that passed the House without a single Democratic vote last May.

The House and Senate will both be out of session next week.

• Jake Sherman, “Why Ukraine Aid May Be Dead — and What Can Save It” (Punchbowl News, February 14, 2024).

Guatemala is dissolving its police force’s border unit (Dipafront), which has been tarred with widespread corruption allegations.

• Hedy Quino Tzoc, “Gobernacion Disuelve la Dipafront Ante Denuncias de Corrupcion” (La Hora (Guatemala), February 13, 2024).

Guatemala also reported expelling 1,642 people into Honduras so far this year: 76 percent from Venezuela, and the rest from Haiti, Ecuador, Honduras, and Colombia.

• Sergio Morales, “Guatemala Expulsa a Mil 754 Extranjeros Que Habian Ingresado Sin Autorizacion” (La Hora (Guatemala), February 13, 2024).

Mexico has quietly reduced its own deportations of migrants, according to an analysis by Tonatiuh Guillén, who headed the country’s migration authority (INM) during the first months of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency.

• Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez, “¿Tensiones Bajo la Mesa? Amlo, Biden y la Migracion” (UNAM, Proceso (Mexico), February 13, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

A report from ACLU of Arizona and partner organizations detailed Border Patrol’s, and other U.S. immigration agencies’, confiscation of asylum seekers’ belongings on “hundreds” of documented occasions. Confiscated and trashed items include medications and medical devices, identification documents, religious garb and items, money, cellphones, and irreplaceable family heirlooms.

• “From Hope to Heartbreak: The Disturbing Reality of Border Patrol’s Confiscation of Migrants’ Belongings” (ACLU of Arizona, February 13, 2024).

A Human Rights First fact sheet explained that Black asylum seekers, including many stranded in Mexico awaiting appointments at ports of entry, “face significant discrimination and barriers within the U.S. asylum system and encounter targeted violence and mistreatment.”

• “U.S. Border and Asylum Policies Harm Black Asylum Seekers” (Human Rights First, February 13, 2024).

“West Texas oil billionaires continue to bankroll the chaos and xenophobic rhetoric” employed by prominent Texas Republican politicians, wrote Melissa del Bosque at the Border Chronicle.

• Melissa del Bosque, “Oil Billionaires Bankroll the Border “Chaos”” (The Border Chronicle, February 13, 2024).

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