US border officers in parts of Texas have started to release some undocumented immigrant families after Mexico refused to take them back. This is only happening in some parts of the border & questions remain about why MX has refused to take these families. buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo… CBP said the families were released because they lack space to hold them and Mexico also recently passed a law prohibiting authorities from keeping undocumented immigrant children in detention centers.

A new report filed in court found that 577 unaccompanied immigrant children have been detained at hotels by ICE since the coronavirus pandemic began. These kids are held for days, sometimes weeks, before being sent back to their countries w/out the chance to make an asylum claim. Previously, unaccompanied immigrant children would've been allowed to seek protection in the US. But the Trump admin effectively blocked immigrants like a teen I wrote about from staying in the country, citing a CDC order to stop the spread of COVID-19. buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo…

A senior administration official said they are reviewing the DACA program, but that in the meantime they will not be accepting new applications. The government will be accepting DACA renewals, but instead of them lasting two years they will only last one year. All applications for Advanced Parole will be rejected absent any "extenuating circumstances." The senior administration official told reporters they doesn't know how long their review of the DACA program will last.

Citing COVID-19 concerns, a federal judge has ordered ICE to release all immigrant children, detained inside its three family detention centers for more than 20 days, by July 17. Yesterday we reported that 11 people inside one of these facilities tested positive for the disease. However, ICE can still detain children beyond the 20 days if a suitable sponsor isn't found, a parent/guardian declines the minor's rights to be released, or if they previously failed to appear at a court hearing.

I’m at Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros-Brownsville where some immigrants, like this mother and her 10 yr old son, are asking CBP to let them into the US after the 9th Circuit blocked the Remain in Mexico policy. An @INAMI_mx official who was speaking with CBP is telling the woman to leave the bridge because she already has a court date. She told him MPP is illegal. He took her picture and walked away.

Atty Charlene D’Cruz is trying to get a 52 yr old Cuban woman removed from the “Remain in Mexico” program arguing she should be exempt because she’s alone in Matamoros and going blind due to a parasite that has eaten her right retina and is now eating away at the left one. This is the fifth time D’Cruz has tried to get Yodalys taken out of MPP. She tried to get treatment in Matamoros but was told she needed to get treatment elsewhere. Last week CBP said they could postpone her upcoming court date so she can get treatment in Monterey or Mexico City.

In interviews translated by the ICE transport program manager "One mother stated that her children had been offered three meals a day and snacks, but one of her children will not eat the food and spits up the milk." At Ursula an unaccompanied minor "When asked about the officers checking on their well‐being, one of the juvenile males said that he was kicked in the leg by someone he called 'an officer' to wake him up."

The results of surveys of over 1,100 undocumented Mexican immigrants who were deported, published in light of Jakelin Caal's death in CBP custody, found that of those who needed and asked for medical care 37 % were denied cmsny.org/publications/s… Among unaccompanied minors researchers (@slackjeremy) found that 38% who needed medical attention and asked for it were refused.

An 8-Year-Old Boy Died On Christmas Morning After He Was Held By Border Protection buzzfeednews.com/article/talala… via @talalnansari Statement from @JoaquinCastrotx on the death of Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, the 8 yr old who died last night in CBP custody.

“Many questions remain unanswered, including how many children have died in CBP custody.”

.@luzenlafrontera, an atty who has been working with asylum seekers at the border for years, tells me the group includes 8 unaccompanied children, a single mom with 5 kids, and a single man. Says all of them run the risk of some type of violence if they remain in Tijuana.

https://twitter.com/RepBarragan/status/1074853247029051392

Metering, limiting the number of people who can make asylum claims at border crossings, has been a growing concern for advocates. "At what point does that wait become an actual denial and how much of a wait time is considered acceptable" for those at risk asks @luzenlafrontera.

.@AlOtroLado_Org said 8 unaccompanied minors trying to ask for asylum at the Otay Mesa border crossing are currently being blocked by CBP from entering and asking for refuge. US agents said they were full and directed the kids to go to another port of entry “They’re supposed to be taken immediately under asylum law and Trafficking Victims Protection Act,” said Nicole Ramos, the atty at the scene representing the 8 unaccompanied minors.

Here are the three lanes that were shut down at the San Ysidro port of entry in TJ today in anticipation of the caravan. There are seven US army members here with CBP at the moment. Story with @Haleaziz on this buzzfeed.com/hamedaleaziz/t… Not sure why the US is putting these up here. Last time the caravan went to the pedestrian walkway across the way to ask for asylum.

At the San Ysidro port of entry the current wait list for asylum seekers is over 1,000, according to lawyers who work with them. A family I spoke with was told they had to wait 3-4 weeks before their number was called. Nicole Ramos, an attorney with Al Otro Lado, which is suing the US govt over its practice of turning away asylum seekers at ports of entry expects wait times at these entrances will double under the administration’s new plan re asylum seekers at the border.

DHS statement on the Trump administrations plan to stop people who entered the US illegally along the southern border from applying for asylum. Read the interim final rule s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspect… The rule says that once its combined with a presidential proclamation, it will channel asylum seekers to ports of entry where they can "be processed in a controlled, orderly, and lawful manner."

One thing I noticed in this caravan compared to the spring one are pets. This is Diana the iguana who came all the way from Honduras. This was the first dog I saw in Juchitán, Oaxaca.

I'm with the migrant caravan in Juchitán, Oaxaca where it’s members are hoping to get buses from Mexican state and federal authorities in order to get to Mexico City. A group of men were looking at a map of Mexico and talking about how much ground they had left to cover. Someone wrote “You are here” below the state of Oaxaca colored in red.

Trump’s family separation policy was flawed from the start, watchdog review says wapo.st/2RhmwUL?tid=ss… Remember the "central database" DHS said it shared with HHS to help track the immigrant parents and children it separated? Apparently it never existed. Story I worked on at the time with @kevincollier about the mystery database buzzfeednews.com/article/kevinc…

Another group of detained dads went on a hunger strike, many were separated from their children. The fathers said ICE is threatening to separate them from their kids again if they don't eat. Reseparations have occurred before under similar circumstances buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo… There were 70 fathers on a hunger strike at Karnes County Residential Center yesterday but that number has gone down to four today after threats of being separated from their kids, according to Texas Immigrant and Refugee Network.

Mexican police beat and arrest organizers of the migrant caravan, including the head of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, say eyewitnesses buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfo… Irineo Mujica was threatened with arrest for "public scandal."

"We defended him and said 'No don't arrest him' and that's when four or five officers came out," said Jackson Davier Figueroa Maldonado. "They threw him on the ground and started to beat him."

A group of immigrant fathers at Karnes who were about to start a hunger strike in detention, the second reported one, told reporters they were were forcibly re-separated from their kids by ICE. These are dads who had been previously separated and then reunited. Two of the kids spoke on the call with reporters and said their dads were taken to another facility while they were in school. The 16 kids were then put in two rooms and said they were given no information about where their dads were.

Some numbers from the status report on the Ms. L family reunification case. The government says it is expected to reunite all of the people found eligible for reunification by today's deadline, which leaves hundreds of the 2,551 kids still in the custody of the federal gov.