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SOUTHERN BORDER — Challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border don’t stem from the border region, Dennis E. Nixon writes in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News — they stem from Washington, D.C. Nixon, who is chairman and CEO of IBC Bank in Laredo, writes that federal lawmakers should "focus on common-sense border security solutions, keeping bad people out and more easily allowing entry to the right people. … We live, work and play as one community, and it’s time for Texas and the U.S. to listen to the solutions offered by those of us who call the border home." STASH HOUSES — More than 70 undocumented immigrants were found by Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas "stash houses" — often unsafe locations used by human smugglers to temporarily house migrants — in a 24-hour period last week, Aila Slisco reports for Newsweek. "The use of stash houses by criminal organizations continues to be a threat to national security and to the citizens of our Nation, but they are also a danger to the people they exploit by concealing them in dilapidated close quarters," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) via statement. An immigration system that results in these kinds of desperate conditions is not one that recognizes human dignity. EXEMPT MOTHERS — Reversing a Trump-era rule, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new policy last week stating "that ICE should not detain, arrest or take into custody for an administrative violation of the immigration laws individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing" in most cases, reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post. "Given the unique needs of this population, we will not detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist," said acting ICE director Tae Johnson in a statement. According to a Government Accountability Office report, most pregnant women detained in recent years have been apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border seeking refuge in the U.S. — and most did not have prior criminal records.
"CELEBRATE THIS PROGRESS"— State Department data show that the U.S. resettled 1,530 refugees in June —more than at any other point in the current fiscal year, reports Charles Davis of Business Insider. The number "is still far, far below the historic norms," said Matthew Soerens of World Relief and the Evangelical Immigration Table. But "it does represent a significant increase over the past several months, and we celebrate this progress." While the Biden administration’s goal is to resettle 62,500 refugees by the end of September, only 4,780 people have been resettled thus far. For context, the Trump administration had set a historically low refugee admissions cap of 15,000. EARLY SEPARATIONS — The Trump administration began separating migrant families much earlier than originally reported, implementing the little-known Criminal Consequence Initiative in Yuma, Arizona, in May 2017, Kevin Sieff reports in The Washington Post. The program "allowed for the prosecution of first-time border crossers, including parents who entered the United States with their children and were separated from them." According to newly released Department of Homeland Security data, 234 families were separated in Yuma from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2017 — and some parents are still separated or missing. The children separated were as young as 10 months old. ICE VACCINATIONS — Around 1,300 immigrants detained by ICE have been completely vaccinated against COVID-19 — but experts say that’s not enough, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. Since the start of the Biden administration, the number of people in ICE detention has increased 82% to 27,000 — and over 10,000 COVID-19 cases among detainees have been reported during the same period. "Given the availability of vaccines in the U.S., the fact that the rollout in ICE detention is so slow is concerning and is keeping people in these settings at risk," said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a Georgetown University School of Medicine professor who monitors immigration detention. "And it's a shame because we do have the supply." For comparison, Montoya-Galvez notes, "more than 83,000 people in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons — or 54% of the federal inmate population — have been fully vaccinated, according to agency data." Thanks for reading, Ali |
