The scope of the Trump admin.'s COVID policy of expelling migrant children, without affording them humanitarian protections enshrined in US law, was revealed Friday.
8,800 minors apprehended without adult family members have been expelled since March. 1/ cbsnews.com/news/8800-migr…
In addition to 8,800 unaccompanied minors, 7,600 members of migrant families with children were also expelled by border officials.
In total, 159,000 expulsions have been carried under this indefinite pandemic policy, which was authorized by CDC Director Robert Redfield. 2/
How big of a shift is this? US law allows border-crossers to fight their deportation by requesting asylum.
The Trump admin. has worked to restrict asylum for 3 + years, arguing it is abused. But it has never been able to summarily expel migrants—let alone children—until now. 3/
Migrant kids have extra legal safeguards.
A Bush-era law requires officials to transfer most unaccompanied children to the US refugee agency, which works to release them to US sponsors / family members
Unlike adults, they can request asylum via a non-adversarial process. 4/
In addition to asylum, migrant children can obtain US refuge through visas for neglected, abused or abandoned minors.
All minors—both unaccompanied & those with parents—are protected under the Flores court settlement. Families are not supposed to be detained for 20 + days. 5/
The Trump admin (and to some extent, the Obama admin) has argued these safeguards encourage unauthorized migration, particularly from Central America.
Advocates say these asylum and anti-trafficking protections are critical for migrants fleeing violence, especially children. 6/
Now, citing the need to contain coronavirus, the Trump admin. has been able to suspend these safeguards for most. It argues they're superseded by public health law during a pandemic.
Despite authorizing it, the CDC has said little about this policy and faced little scrutiny. 7/
The Trump admin. is telling federal courts that allowing migrant children to stay in the US while their cases are adjudicated would overburden US refugee agency shelters and ICE family detention centers, making it harder to contain the coronavirus inside these facilities. 8/
Advocates like @L_Toczylowski say there are safe ways to allow children to seek US refuge.
"To find out that our gov't has literally taken children who are seeking protection and sent them back to the very places they fled in such high numbers really took my breath away." 9/
In 1 month, a CDC rule will take effect codifying its authority to give US immigration officials the power to bypass protections for asylum-seekers and migrant children during a pandemic.
NEWS — Unlawful crossings by migrants along the U.S. southern border dropped for the fifth consecutive month in July, plunging to the lowest level since the fall of 2020. cbsnews.com/news/unlawful-…
U.S. Border Patrol agents made roughly 56,000 migrant apprehensions between official points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, the lowest number since September 2020, when the agency reported nearly 55,000 apprehensions.
For context: In December, during a record-breaking spike in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border that overwhelmed agents in parts of Texas and Arizona, Border Patrol reported 250,000 apprehensions, or over four times July's tally.
NEWS — In an exclusive interview, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign chief signaled that Harris, if elected in November, would continue President Biden's asylum crackdown, which U.S. officials have credited for a steep drop in border crossings. cbsnews.com/news/kamala-ha…
I asked Harris campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez if Harris would keep Biden’s ban on most asylum claims.
“At this point … the policies that are … having a real impact on ensuring that we have security and order at our border are policies that will continue,” she replied.
Chávez Rodríguez's comments are the first indication that U.S. border policy may not change significantly if Harris succeeds Mr. Biden as president, despite pressure from progressive activists angry with the Biden administration's pivot on asylum.
NEWS — The Biden administration is planning to announce a new regulation tomorrow that is designed to allow immigration officials to deport migrants who are ineligible for U.S. asylum earlier in the process, three sources tell @CBSNews. cbsnews.com/news/immigrati…
It would instruct government asylum officers to apply certain barriers to asylum that are already part of U.S. law during so-called credible fear interviews. This is the first step in the years-long asylum process.
Migrants barred under U.S. law from asylum include those who may pose a danger to public safety or national security. The rule would allow officials to reject and deport migrants in these categories soon after they cross the border.
One of the reasons immigration is such an intractable issue in the US is because the discourse on it is riddled with misleading / false narratives that lack nuance and extreme positions.
A thread about what I've been thinking about lately as immigration becomes a top 2024 issue:
2/ If you only listen to one side, everyone coming to the U.S. southern border is a bad person, a criminal or someone gaming the system.
If you only listen to the other side, everyone coming to the border is an asylum-seeker fleeing imminent harm.
Both narratives are false.
3/ If you only listen to one side, there's no migrant crisis, despite an unprecedented influx and its humanitarian, operational and security implications.
If you listen to the other side, there's an "invasion." But there's no military assault. Border towns are not under attack.
NEWS — Migrants in Mexico have made over 64.3 million requests to enter the U.S. using a smartphone app that the Biden administration has tried to establish as the main gateway to the American asylum system, internal documents obtained by CBS News show. cbsnews.com/news/immigrati…
Yes, you read that right. Migrants have used the "CBP One" app tens of millions of times to apply for a coveted appointment to be processed by U.S. authorities at an official border crossing.
So far, nearly 450,000 migrants have been allowed into the U.S. under the process.
The number of requests does not represent unique individuals, since it includes repeated attempts by the same people. Nonetheless, the figure illustrates the extraordinarily high demand among migrants to come to the U.S. and the desperation that leads many to try again and again.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is demanding that Texas state officials stop blocking Border Patrol agents from a public park in Eagle Pass, threatening legal action and calling the state's move to seize control of the area "clearly unconstitutional."
Full letter:
DHS is giving Texas until the end of the day on Wednesday to say it "will cease and desist its efforts to block Border Patrol’s access in and around the Shelby Park area and remove all barriers to access to the U.S.-Mexico border."
Otherwise, DHS will refer the matter to DOJ.
Story: The Biden administration demanded that Texas officials stop preventing Border Patrol agents from entering a section of the U.S. southern border commandeered by state National Guard soldiers last week, calling the actions "clearly unconstitutional.” cbsnews.com/news/eagle-pas…