Biden dispatches top officials to Mexico, Central America as border crisis grows
By: Sahil Kapur and Shannon Pettypiece (NBC News)
Isn't a return to normal politics refreshing? Joe Biden is using all the tired old political tricks he learned over his 47 year career as a professional political hustler.
Diplomatic junkets. Scapegoating the prior administration which had at least slowed illegal border migration to a manageable level. Planning as an afterthought. A President unable to cope and a Congress unwilling to act.
How very normal.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Joe Biden is dispatching top officials to Mexico and Central America as the crisis on the southern U.S. border persists with a surge of asylum-seeking migrants who are fleeing their countries.
The crisis at the border has created a difficult situation for Biden, who is caught between his promises to progressives to establish a more humane immigration system and pressure from conservatives to send a tougher message to deter migrants from traveling to the U.S. to seek asylum. The influx has overwhelmed border facilities and driven the national conversation on immigration.
Roberta Jacobson, the National Security Council official overseeing border issues, was to travel to Mexico on Monday to jointly "develop an effective and humane plan of action to manage migration," NSC spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement Monday.
In addition, Juan Gonzalez, the White House's senior director for the Western Hemisphere, plans to travel to Guatemala to discuss the "root causes of migration in the region and build a more hopeful future in the region," Horne said.
She said Ricardo Zuniga, the State Department's envoy for the Northern Triangle region of Central America, will also be part of the efforts.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the State Department has run more than 17,000 radio ads across Latin American and more than 500 ads on social media telling migrants to stay in their home countries. Psaki declined again to characterize the situation as a crisis.
"Children presenting at our border who are fleeing violence or fleeing prosecution, who are fleeing terrible situations, is not a crisis," Psaki said Monday. "We feel that it is our responsibility to humanely approach this circumstance and make sure they are treated and put into conditions that are safe."
Meanwhile, a pair of senators who represent border states — John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. — wrote a letter Monday encouraging Biden to step up his efforts.
"Your administration should take immediate action in two areas: ensuring there are sufficient resources and facilities at the border to manage the crisis and taking concrete steps to improve the asylum process. Both of these are critical to improving how our nation manages this situation," Cornyn and Sinema wrote.
They called on Biden to use his "full authorities" to mitigate the situation and develop "strategies to improve and streamline the asylum process" as facilities are overwhelmed by the influx.
Separately, some top Democrats have urged addressing the border situation in a broader immigration bill.
The border crisis has complicated an early legislative push by Biden to remake the system.
The Biden White House has made it clear that its goal is to address the root causes of the migration — to improve conditions in Central America and overhaul the asylum application process to discourage migrants from taking chances on trips to the border to make their cases.
The administration has blamed the situation in part on former President Donald Trump's moves to dismantle parts of the asylum system, saying they left the administration ill-equipped to process the migrants in a way that is both lawful and humane.
Over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on Sunday talk shows to urge people not to come to the border.
"We are operating on parallel tracks. We are safely processing the children who do come to our border. We strongly urge, and the message is clear, not to do so now," Mayorkas said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I cannot overstate the perils of the journey that they take."
Reporters have not been allowed into the facilities to see the conditions. Psaki said she hopes to have an update on reporters' access "in the coming days" after ensuring that privacy and Covid-19 procedures are followed. The administration declined to release any of its own images of the facilities.
Biden said Sunday that he would be traveling to the border. Psaki declined to say whether or when that trip would take place.
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Yep, Biden ain't Trump. But then Biden ain't a lot of things, is he?
Biden's return to normal seems to be more than a little disappointing.
Yeah - we ain't got no problem.
RGV Border Patrol Agents Continue Apprehending Large Groups
EDINBURG, Texas – McAllen Border Patrol Station (MCS) agents remained busy this weekend as they encountered three large groups of families and unaccompanied alien children, each group was more than 100 people.
On Saturday, MCS agents working near Havana, Texas, encountered a group of more than 145 illegal aliens. Hours later, another 108 illegal aliens were apprehended near La Joya, Texas. Yesterday morning, agents working near Hidalgo, Texas, arrested a third group consisting of 116 people. In total, the three groups consisted of nearly 300 family members and unaccompanied alien children, single adults rounded out the rest of the groups. Agents determined the subjects are citizens of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Belize.
RGV agents have encountered 25 groups of more than 100 people illegally entering the country this calendar year. March has been a very active month for RGV, as illegal alien apprehensions thus far have surpassed February’s total number.
Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation. The U.S. Border Patrol agents of the Rio Grande Valley Sector will continue to safeguard the nation and community against these criminal elements.
Please visit www.cbp.gov to view additional news releases and other information pertaining to Customs and Border Protection. Follow us on Twitter @CBPRGV , @USBPChiefRGV and @USBPDepChiefRGV .
This covers just this one sector of the border - the Rio Grande Valley. 2,500 +. There are 48 U.S.–Mexico border crossings, with 330 ports of entry. At these points of entry, people trying to get into the U.S. are required to open their bags for inspection. Border crossings take place by roads, pedestrian walkways, railroads and ferries.
"Imagine" IF 25 groups of over 100 Illegal Aliens were/are being apprehended at each of the 48 crossings, that would be 'bout 120,000 Illegals a month. And, that's not counting double/triple that number who are crossing and NOT being apprehended each month.
Sure Pres Joe - we ain't got no problem. C'mon down - we'll show you - if your crowd lets us. But they won't - you'll get the sanitized version and you'll get to go back to your fence/guarded enclosure safe and secure.
Hard to prove. Harder yet to prove which Administration was better or worse.
I see "never let a crisis go to waste" has morphed into "never let the word crisis go to waste".