I spent the week before @JoeBiden inauguration covering 200mi of US-MX border from Pacific to Yuma-a reckoning of the chaos wrought by 4 yrs of Trump policies & realization of already dangerous uncertainty about Biden plans to deal with it lat.ms/3933qwE @latimes THREAD
@JoeBiden @latimes El Chaparral, one of world's busiest border crossings, was quiet. Gabi & her husband waited to again extend a temporary Mexican residency visa. Fleeing El Salvador after witnessing murder of their 14yo nephew who refused to join the gang, they were put into MPP here - in 2019 1/
@JoeBiden @latimes Under Trump policy better known as “Remain in Mexico” ~70k asylum seekers forced back to wait for US cases in some of world's most dangerous cities. Gabi's last hearing was in March 2020, when Trump WH indefinitely closed border, citing COVID-19. Now it’s set for March 2021. 2/
“I was very afraid of Trump,” Gabi told me. “That’s why I waited seeking asylum here, because I wanted to do it legally.
“With Biden I think we have a light in this darkness,” she said. “We hope he’ll let us fight for asylum inside, in a safe place ... I want to stop running.” 3/
Biden promised to end MPP on his 1st day, but didn't commit to ending 'Title 42,' which Trump WH used to close border though CDC officials said it's political, not based in public health. Courts have found both unlawful. But on Wed, Biden's 1st day in office - he kept both. 4/
This is the dangerously urgent and politically inconvenient mess at the border that Trump has left Biden: How to deal with the estimated 30k migrants already in limbo, as well as thousands more heading north, amid a pandemic that Trump used as pretext to close the border. 5/
Predictably, outgoing Trump officials & 2024 hopefuls cry "amnesty!" & blame Biden’s pledges for recent caravans-ignoring those under Trump, that he responded to with military & tear gas, warning of "invasion." Cue last day Stephen Miller:“Biden is in enormous political peril” 6/
Same time, Biden officials are deflecting, claiming undoing Trump’s decimation of the legal immigration system “cannot be accomplished with just the flick of a switch and turned on in Day One" as Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden DHS pick, said in his confirmation hearing Tues 7/
“I am just deeply worried that every single day the Biden administration waits to give clear indications of what’s going to happen at the border after Jan. 20, they put more people in danger,” said Savitri Arvey, a migration researcher. 8/
Biden WH may not be able to wait-lawsuits against Trump policies now against them. “Title 42 is everything-it’s a complete closure of the border,” said @leegelernt of ACLU. “There’s no question that the Title 42 policy is unlawful. And yet when Biden comes in, he may leave it” 9/
@leegelernt Plays out across border: Border Patrol said new Trump barrier made job easier-“There’s no such thing as a bad wall”-but with Title 42, both push more dangerous illegal crossings by desert & ocean. Biden froze construction, but unclear what now with ~200mi mid-build, per @CBP 10/
@leegelernt @CBP South in Baja, the fishing village of Popotla is famed for seafood, & 10yrs ago, as smuggler launching point. Suffering economically with COVID-19 border closure & greater demand from trapped migrants with no real legal option, US officials say smugglers operating here again 11/
Asylum seekers & agents said they had no idea what happens Jan21. Now Trump political appointees are gone & 99% of CBP who are career remain under a new WH w/opposite priorities. Said one:"They make a lot of promises, but until they actually enact the policies, we won’t know” 12/
Please read 'Biden inherits border chaos from Trump but begets uncertainty and false hope' @latimes -> lat.ms/2Y4lXT7 & SUBSCRIBE! latimes.com/inscribe

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More from @mollymotoole

11 Jan
House Oversight chair @OversightDems writes scathing letter to @CBPMarkMorgan saying CBP refusing to comply with subpoena over “dozens of employees who participated in secret Facebook groups that posted racist, sexually violent, dehumanizing, and abhorrent material”:
@OversightDems @CBPMarkMorgan Year after CBP launched internal investigation, @latimes broke news last July that CBP had fired only *four* Border Patrol agents for scandal over groups that counted thousands of current and former CBP as members - & as of October, that all 4 had appealed lat.ms/38xuofv
Stephanie Talton, CBP congress affairs, responded, per Maloney:"the agency took the conduct seriously & as a result
removed 4 individuals from their posts—a decision the agency is spending considerable resources to ensure that stands—& suspended or otherwise reprimanded others"
Read 7 tweets
9 Jan
President Trump’s role in inciting a deadly siege on the Capitol has given new urgency to a question that has been building throughout his presidency: Is he a security threat to the very country he was elected to lead? w/ @Noahbierman lat.ms/35rMcqx @latimes (Thread)
@Noahbierman @latimes Of 15 current & former national security officials contacted after the Capitol breach, including Trump Cabinet members, WH NSC leadership, agency heads, and DHS and State staffers. @latimes interviewed 10, & 2 requested anonymity, citing professional or legal concerns. 1/
“What would this president do over the next days if it happens again — if a domestic or foreign enemy attacks any element of this country? I don’t get the impression he would do a damn thing, and I find that to be alarming.” -Tom Bossert, former Trump homeland security advisor 2/
Read 12 tweets
28 Oct 20
Behind the story: From Nepal to Saudi Arabia, reporting how a dead man came back to life - from twists of fate over momos to tripping over my abaya to help from Jamal Khashoggi & eternal thanks to many who risked much helping me tell it @latimes THREAD lat.ms/2HGcrAz
@latimes I'd been living in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, for only a few weeks when I saw a short headline buried in a newspaper: “Dead Man Comes Back to Kathmandu.” But I couldn't find him. 1/
As a longtime staffer, first-time freelancer, I'd been hoping to cover one of the largest human migrations on the planet, though it gets scant attention in US media: Laborers leaving South Asia for the Persian Gulf states, sponsored by some of the world’s biggest corporations. 2/
Read 16 tweets
28 Oct 20
The #2020 election is in less than a week, the #Dodgers won the World Series, but I hope you'll stick with me for a story I chased for more than 3.5 years from Nepal to Saudi Arabia and back, equal parts existential dread & unparalleled joy @latimes THREAD lat.ms/35KuHBh
@latimes Santoshi’s nightmares repeat. Someone brings her to the woods and leaves her there alone. Then she sees the pyre where the body is burning, the body she burned after her husband Subash, a migrant worker, was declared dead in Saudi Arabia 5 years ago. The body reaches for her 1/
They believed setting the body aflame would free the soul. Instead, it now haunts two families, forever connected by the macabre events that began unfolding in a desert 4,000 miles away. Santoshi said she always held onto the hope that Subash would come back to life. He did. 2/
Read 14 tweets
27 Oct 20
What timing @DHSOIG > CISA's plans "do not sufficiently mitigate other potential risks to physical security, terrorism threats, or targeted violence to the election infrastructure, nor do they identify dependencies on external stakeholders that impede" bit.ly/2HErZ8k 1/
@DHSOIG "DHS senior leadership turnover and ongoing CISA reorganization have hindered CISA’s ability to enhance planning and effectively monitor its progress in securing the Nation’s election infrastructure." bit.ly/2HErZ8k 2/
"Inadequate classification authority,
duplicative data sharing, and limited staffing have restricted CISA’s ability to provide additional services and assessments." bit.ly/2HErZ8k 3/
Read 4 tweets
9 Sep 20
Remember "Myth/Fact:Known and Suspected Terrorists/Special Interest Aliens”? I noted at time no evidence for "KST" through border, conflation w/SIA & Nielsen's manipulation. This alleges she-aided by @MilesTaylorUSA & others-lied for perceived pol benefit: bit.ly/3iixIO4
@MilesTaylorUSA Wolf w/Cuccinelli intro gave "State of Homeland" today downplaying white extremist threat, emphasizing "all sides"- Murphy alleges Cuccinelli said "needed to specifically modify"part on"White Supremacy"to make"less severe" & add"violent 'left-wing' groups" bit.ly/3m0x9uN
Alleges @HomelandKen also rejected intel for Northern Triangle country reports asylum officers use, saying he'd punish “deep state" analysts reporting (accurately) "high levels of corruption, violence, & poor economic conditions" -purge "never implemented" bit.ly/35gJsx4
Read 6 tweets

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