Texas Guard Deployed as Migrants, Some in Biden T-shirts, Flood Border States
By: Daniel Villarreal (Newsweek)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
After President Joe Biden signed executive orders ending several "zero-tolerance" anti-immigration policies instated by former Republican President Donald Trump, a surge of immigrants have begun arriving along the U.S. southern border. Some wearing t-shirts that read, "Biden Let Us In."
In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed the Texas Guard, a state military force, to crack down on any associated cartels and human smuggling. The brewing confrontation will test Biden just as he and the Democratic-led Congress prepare to introduce comprehensive immigration reform, a key campaign promise.
Video footage shot Monday at the San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California state—just south of the California border—showed a group of migrants, some of them wearing the "Biden Let Us In" t-shirts.
While it's unclear where the migrants got the shirts, similar shirts are available on several websites. The English-language apparel seemingly strives to send a message directly to Biden, Democrats and the English-speaking Americans—a protest message pressuring Biden to make good on his promise to create a more humane immigration system.
But before Biden can deliver, his administration will have to address the growing unrest between immigrants and leaders of southern states.
"Today I met with Border Patrol Officers," Abbott wrote in a Tuesday afternoon tweet. "Last year, they apprehended about 90,000 people crossing the border illegally in the RGV (Rio Grand Valley). This year that number already exceed 100,000."
Today I met with Border Patrol Officers
Last year they apprehended about 90,000 people crossing the border illegally in the RGV.
This year that number already exceed 100,000.
I deployed @TexasGuard & DPS to crack down on cartels & human smuggling.https://t.co/lxpnjsZYAW
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 10, 2021
Abbott blamed the surge on Biden's rollback of Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy in a Tuesday interview with Fox News. The policy required migrants claiming asylum at the border to stay in Mexico while awaiting court hearings.
"The Border Patrol officers told me themselves, they informed the Biden administration about this all along," Abbott said. "The Biden administration has known exactly what was going to happen if they refuse to continue to implement the policies that were previously in place."
An annual surge of immigrants typically arrive at the U.S. southern border each spring as the weather warms. The surge mostly contains young people and families fleeing violence and poor living conditions in Central and South American countries, according to Sarah Sherman-Stokes, an immigration lawyer and professor at the Boston University School of Law.
Migrants awaiting their trials in Mexican border towns live in "inhumane" conditions and are "preyed upon by criminal organizations," a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders told Border Report on Tuesday. Drug cartel operatives recruit or kidnap migrants, holding them for ransom and murdering them if their families don't comply.
Immigrants at the southern US border, some wearing t-shirts that read "Biden Let Us In," seem ready to test Democratic Joe Biden's immigration policies after Biden rolled back hardline immigration policies put in place by former Republican President Donald Trump..In this photo, immigrants hold a demonstration demanding clearer United States migration policies, at San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on March 2, 2021. Thousands of migrants out of the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) program are stranded along the US-Mexico border without knowing when or how they will be able to start their migratory process with US authorities. Guillermo Arias / AFP
Biden now faces a tough choice as he's criticized by the right for allegedly facilitating "open borders" and blasted by the left for allegedly continuing the inhumane treatment of migrants.
On February 12, the Biden administration pledged to begin processing nearly 25,000 of the estimated 70,000 asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico due to Trump's 2019 Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) program.
Biden ended enrolments in the MPP program—also known as "Remain in Mexico"—and established new guidelines requiring migrants to register for a court hearing online or via phone. Before their court hearings, asylum seekers must get tested for COVID-19 in Mexico and then appear at a U.S. port of entry on a specific date, Reuters reported.
Soon after the White House announced its changes to the MPP program, however, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that migrants should not respond by flocking to the U.S. border.
"Individuals who are not eligible under this initial phase should wait for further instructions and not travel to the border," Mayorkas said in a statement. "Due to the current pandemic, restrictions at the border remain in place and will be enforced."
Mayorkas' statement showed the delicate balance the Biden administration must strike. The more humane his administration's immigration policies are, the more likely they are to attract further migration.
Immigration reform advocates have also been pressuring Biden to end or change another Trump-era program known as Title 42. Instated by Trump on March 2020 as an ostensible COVID-19 prevention measure, the order allows U.S. authorities to rapidly deport any immigrants caught trying to cross the southern border.
Over 400,000 migrants have been expelled under Title 42, Reuters reported, some of them repeat offenders who were counted twice. Critics say that the order denies due process to asylum seekers. Biden hasn't said whether he will end it.
How Biden handles the surge could set the tone for the eventual legislative debate on comprehensive immigration reform.
Biden's US Citizenship Act of 2021 represents the most sweeping modern reforms to the nation's immigration system. It provides an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants while making asylum, immigrant worker protections, green cards and visas more accessible.
The legislation also contains proposals addressing foreign social issues that drive migration and additional funding for technology and infrastructure at points of entry. However, the bill doesn't address border security or interior enforcement measures meant to discourage immigration.
As such, it may have trouble attracting the 10 Republican senators it will need to become law, especially if a humanitarian crisis breaks out along the border before bill negotiations formally begin.
"You need to take care of the current situation before there's a surge in the coming months in order to keep the politics, especially in the Senate, out of the way in order to pass policy," Jose Parra, a former senior advisor to former U.S. Senator Harry Reid, told Newsweek.
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Biden will never get an immigration bill as long as there is this crisis on the southern border. It is a policy favored by the extreme left of the democratic party. That is who Joe Biden serves.
How many thought you were getting a moderate?
Not me!
There is no reason to let them in
abbott is still trying to outrun the texas infrastructure failure gifted to him by his big donors.
EXCLUSIVE : Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas objecting to what they described as "silence" from the administration about the crisis at the southern border and the plan to tackle it.
"We still do not know what the administration’s plan is, if any, to reduce illegal border crossings by [unaccompanied children] and family units along the southern border," the letter from 20 Oversight Republicans, led by ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., says.
The lawmakers write that they do not know what the administration is doing to prevent COVID-19 infections and its spread into border communities as migrants are released into the interior from DHS custody.
"The administration’s silence in this matter can only be understood as confirmation that the administration does not have a coherent plan to respond to this crisis," the letter, obtained by Fox News, says.
The committee Republicans had written to the administration last month requesting documents and information about the crisis -- specifically what is the administration’s plan to reduce illegal border crossings, what it is doing to stop the spread of COVID at ports, how it is seeking to stop the release of migrants into the interior, and the steps it is taking to address the situation with Mexico.
But, they say, they never received anything more than an interim response acknowledging receipt: "Our questions remain unanswered."
The Biden administration has been under heavy criticism from Republicans for its handling of the crisis, particularly its denial that there is a crisis at all. Mayorkas last week denied there was a crisis at the border.
"I think that the -- the answer is no. I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing, and we have our resources dedicated to managing it," he said.
Meanwhile, numbers have been surging at the border, and agencies have been struggling to cope.
A senior DHS official confirmed to Fox News that the number of migrant children in custody along the border has tripled in the past two weeks to more than 3,250 and that more than 1,360 have been held for longer than the allowed three days. The numbers were first reported by The New York Times .
Multiple sources told Fox that numbers to be released this week will show about 100,000 apprehensions in February, higher than in February 2019 at the beginning of that year’s border crisis.
The administration is allowing child migrant facilities to expand to 100% capacity as it looks to cope with the numbers, while it is opening other facilities -- including looking at using a Virginia military base.
Republicans have also criticized the Biden administration rollbacks of a number of Trump-era enforcement and border protections, saying it is incentivizing migration from countries south of the border. GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy will next week lead a delegation to the border.
The Oversight Republicans on Wednesday warned that the growth in unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and family units risks overwhelming border facilities, "presenting a risk to DHS personnel and potentially leading to widespread COVID-19 infection and fatalities in border communities and within the interior of the country."
"The situation is becoming untenable every day that passes without a coherent plan to address this crisis," they added.
The Biden administration should be "embarrassed" about their immigration policies after "inheriting the most secure border" in decades, Fox News contributor Tom Homan said on Wednesday.
"They should be embarrassed. The American people can do the math. The apprehensions are over 100,000, that's triple of what it was a year ago under Trump policies. Actions speak louder than words," the former acting ICE director told " Fox & Friends ."
"They can say anything they want to say. But when you release thousands of people in the United States, some even have COVID and you don't want to detain them. This is a clear message to the world."
REPORTER: "The number of migrants detained has tripled... Is that accurate?"
PSAKI: "Those numbers are tracked by DHS. I'm just suggesting that you talk to them..."
REPORTER: "We talked to them... They won't confirm the numbers."
PSAKI: "Ask them again... It's not our program"
Is that what she really said [DELETED]
Oh, yes!
[DELETED]
Is what she said untrue?
That the number of migrants detained has tripled is true, but she has refused to admit it.
Source?
PROVE IT!
Look at it this way, at least they've stopped posting nonsense about Dr. Potato Head ...
Well, now you've done it. To those replied to, they now think the NY Times os a far right source and will refuse to read the proof.
Kinda hard to read anything behind a paywall.
Who is Dr Potato Head?
The funny part of it is that we shouldn't have to depend on those numbers. The Biden administration should be putting them out there, but they won't.
Yes
She's not helping Biden a bit....comes across as an uninformed and ignorant idiot
What a difference in the press corps. A big story like this and all Psaki gets is "The number of migrants detained has tripled... Is that accurate?"
And we talked to DHS and they won't tell us the numbers!
And they take it on the chin. No rising voices or debating now! Psaki gets to say go ask DHS.
She comes across as?
no, she really is an idiot. Hey ms press secretary;
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=48rz8udZBmQ
"While it's unclear where the migrants got the shirts ..."
Moving on to the next post.
Must...search...bowels...of...internet...and...find...any...border...story....
Have to as donald said the border states are now destroyed.
Must...follow...dear...leader...and...everything...he...says....
My guess would be some demented Trumptard who is really good with Photoshop.
So why is the Texas Guard being deployed as migrants? Why are they in Biden t-shirts? And why are they in other states not named Tx? This headline is grammatically fucked up.
It would be if the commas were not there.
It's fine the way it is. Comma indicates an ever so brief pause, prior to reading the rest. I guess it's up to the reader to know that.........................
JMHO
Correct. The whole part set off by commas should not be in the headline. If those reporting the news can't get it right how can the rest of us?
Reading comprehension?
Guess i read it the same way, although I knew Abbott isn't that crazy. he actually might do something correct about ERCOT also this week.
gee, I wonder how and where the immigrants got all those shirts ...
Come on, you know they stopped on the side of the road and ordered them with their laptops from Amazon.
[DELETED]
Ah, Spring! That invigorating time of year, when our thoughts traditionally turn to thoughts of renewal, romance, baseball . . . and rushing the border of your neighboring country.
"One Mexican official familiar with migration developments, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said o rganized crime began changing its modus operandi “from the day Biden took office ” and now exhibited “unprecedented” levels of sophistication.
That includes briefing clients on the latest immigration rules, using technology to outfox authorities, and disguising smuggling operations as travel agencies, assessments showed…
To ease their passage, smugglers advise Central American clients to register complaints with authorities saying they have been victims of extortion or, for young men, that they have faced death threats from street gangs, the assessments show.
And, as in previous years, migrants are being told to bring along children to make it easier to apply for asylum."
Somebody wake up Joe. Let's see if he cares.