In a new filing today, attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia say their client was offered a “last-ditch” plea deal by the Trump administration on Thursday that would see him deported to Costa Rica after serving his criminal sentence. The government of Costa Rica has agreed to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee and provide him legal status there, according to a letter from a Costa Rican official. The offer would involve Abrego Garcia pleading guilty to the smuggling charges.

NEWS: ICE is detaining 59,000 detainees in facilities across the US, likely a record high, internal figures obtained by CBS News show.

ICE is at over 140% of its congressionally funded detention capacity.

Nearly half of detainees lack criminal records.
cbsnews.com/news/ice-recor… The 59,000 level tops the previous peak in 2019, when the first Trump administration held as many as 55,000 immigrants in ICE detention.

Historical data gathered by the Marshall Project suggests the 59,000 figure is the highest in the history of U.S. immigration detention

The Trump administration will be revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants welcomed into the U.S. under a Biden-era sponsorship process, urging them to self-deport or face arrest and removal by deportation agents.

CBS News first reported this plan on Feb. 1.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1903208588384010528

DHS said it will seek the arrest and deportation of those subject to the policy change if they fail to depart the U.S. in the next 30 das.

Officials are urging migrants to use the newly repurposed CBP Home smartphone app to register for self-deportation.

Exclusive: CBS News has obtained an internal U.S. government list of the Venezuelan men the Trump administration deported to El Salvador as part of a secretive operation that has triggered a legal standoff and global debate.

We have published their names.
cbsnews.com/news/venezuela… Here’s what we know:

- 137 of the 238 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador were deported under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

- The other 101 were deported under immigration law.

- The Trump admin. says they’re all linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, an accusation relatives dispute.

BREAKING: Federal judge James Boasberg says during a hearing that he will issue an order blocking the Trump administration from deporting “all noncitizens in U.S. custody who are subject” to President Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation.

https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1901007077432008937

Remarkably, Boasberg appeared to say that any deportation flights in the air with migrants subject to this order on board should be returned to the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE — CBS News has obtained internal Trump administration plans to revive Title 42 and expel migrants on public health grounds.

The first Trump administration cited COVID. Now it’s made plans to label migrants vectors of diseases like tuberculosis.
cbsnews.com/news/trump-tit… The internal documents obtained by CBS News show the Trump administration has prepared plans to invoke Title 42 to empower officials to swiftly expel migrants without any of the processing outlined in federal immigration law, which says those on U.S. soil can request asylum.

EXCLUSIVE — U.S. border agents have been directed to summarily deport migrants crossing into the country illegally, without allowing them to request asylum, in accordance with President Trump's orders, according to internal documents and officials.
cbsnews.com/news/trump-dep… Just hours after being sworn in, Mr. Trump invoked sweeping presidential authorities to bar the entry of migrants deemed to be participating in an "invasion" of the U.S., as well as those who may pose a public health or national security risk.

BREAKING — President Trump moves to dismantle the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment, orders federal agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children of parents who are unauthorized immigrants OR temporary visa holders.

Agencies are given 30 days to implement.
Full order here:
whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

NEWS — The Biden administration will not be extending the legal status of tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who were allowed to fly to the U.S. under a sponsorship program, according to officials and internal documents.
cbsnews.com/news/venezuela… These Venezuelans have arrived under a Biden administration program, known as CHNV, that allows migrants from four countries to fly to the U.S. legally, if Americans sponsor them. It was designed to reduce illegal border crossings by offering them a legal way to come here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

NEWS — The Biden administration has indicated to Congress that it's open to a new Title 42-like border authority to expel migrants without asylum screenings, as well as an expansion of immigration detention and deportations, to get GOP to back Ukraine aid.
cbsnews.com/news/immigrati… In recent days, the Biden administration has intensified its engagement with lawmakers negotiating a border-Ukraine deal. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas started engaging with negotiators in the Senate this week.

He's currently on Capitol Hill.

BREAKING — The Biden administration will be offering more than 400,000 Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. legal status and work permits through an expansion of the TPS program following demands from New York and other cities, three sources tell @CBSNews.
cbsnews.com/news/venezuela… The Department of Homeland Security is expanding, or redesignating, the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelan migrants, allowing more recent arrivals to apply for the deportation protections and work permits offered by the policy, the sources said.

A thread on our reporting: The Biden administration is planning to replace Title 42 with a policy that is, in many ways, tougher — and I think that has been overlooked.

This rule will disqualify most non-Mexican migrants from asylum if they enter the U.S. without permission. 1/

https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1656090114131472384

The regulation will subject migrants to swift, formal deportations to their home country or Mexico, a five year banishment from the U.S. and potential criminal prosecution if they try to re-enter. Title 42 did not impose these immigration or criminal consequences on migrants. 2/

BREAKING — The Biden administration has finalized a sweeping asylum restriction it plans to use to ramp up border deportations of migrants after the Title 42 pandemic-era policy expires on Thursday, according to internal documents obtained by @CBSNews.
cbsnews.com/news/u-s-asylu… The regulation, which is expected to be challenged in federal court, will be a dramatic shift in asylum policy, disqualifying migrants from U.S. protection if they fail to request refugee status in another country, such as Mexico, on their journey to the southern border.

Border Patrol will be launching an operation tomorrow in El Paso to apprehend migrants who evaded law enforcement after crossing the southern border unlawfully, saying migrants taken into custody there may be expelled, detained or placed in deportation proceedings. For context, thousands of migrants have been sleeping on the streets of this Texas border city in recent days amid a spike in migrant crossings in the lead-up to the end of the Title 42 public health restrictions on Thursday.

Twenty Republican-controlled states filed a lawsuit today asking a federal judge in Texas to halt a Biden administration program that allows up to 30,000 migrants from four countries to enter the U.S. legally each month if they have American sponsors.
cbsnews.com/news/immigrati… Announced by Pres. Biden this month as part of a strategy to deter unlawful border crossings, the program allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the US legally under the parole authority. The states argue it's an illegal expansion of parole.