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BORDER NUMBERS — Authorities stopped fewer migrants at the border in August than in July, per U.S. Customs and Border Protection data released Wednesday, but numbers topped 200,000 for the second consecutive month, reports Nick Miroff of The Washington Post. The data show that among all encounters, 44% were expelled under Title 42, a percentage that remained relatively stable since July. (More on Title 42 below.) Fewer single adults crossed in August and the number of unaccompanied children dropped slightly, while the number of family units increased. While the overall numbers remain near record highs, they continue to be inflated by high recidivism rates. TITLE 42 — Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for D.C. ruled Thursday that the Biden administration cannot expel migrant families with children using Title 42, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The judge gave the administration two weeks to change how it uses Title 42. According to government data, in August, U.S. authorities along the southern border expelled 16,200 parents and children traveling as families under the policy. "We hope the Biden administration has no plans to appeal and continue to place families in grave danger," Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer leading the legal challenge against the expulsions, told CBS News.
HAITIAN MIGRANTS — Thousands of Haitian migrants await under a bridge in South Texas after crossing the Rio Grande, "creating a humanitarian emergency and a logistical challenge U.S. agents describe as unprecedented," Arelis R. Hernández and Nick Miroff report for The Washington Post. Per CBP’s latest data, more than 29,000 Haitians have arrived over the past 11 months. "They have trekked through the jungles of Panama’s Darien Gap, navigated migrant camps and criminal gangs in Central America, and dodged border guards and troops along the highways of southern Mexico," Hernández and Miroff write. Said migrant Wendy Guillaumetre, 31, "I see brave people who instead of being trapped by conformity chose to find a better life. Conditions are too hard in Haiti." DEPORTATION PRIORITIES — On Wednesday, a federal appeals court "allowed the Biden administration’s selective criteria on who should be deported to remain in effect, rejecting one of Texas’ challenges to the president’s immigration policies," reports the Associated Press. The interim enforcement criteria follow a "deep-rooted tradition of enforcement discretion when it comes to decisions that occur before detention, such as who should be subject to arrest, detainers, and removal proceedings," wrote Circuit Judge Gregg Costa. Final deportation priorities, which the Biden administration may unveil as early as this month, are expected to be "a sharp departure from those of Trump, who made everyone in the country illegally a priority for deportation." BORDER MYTHS — Poor policy decisions by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are prolonging the coronavirus pandemic, and their blame on migrants is misplaced, Randa Tawil, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University, writes in The Washington Post. It's an old tactic: "governments have long used the threat of disease as an opportunity to surveil and police migrants, while continuing business unencumbered by restrictions," Tawil notes. "… Particularly now, as the arrivals of Afghan refugees are sure to provoke calls for immigration restriction, immigrants should not take the fall for bad policy. The sources of our troubles are right in front of us, not at our borders." Elsewhere, Jean Guerrero of The Los Angeles Times writes that none other than QAnon is attempting to advance a "border variant" conspiracy theory. "We must recognize the threat their disinformation poses to our democracy and work to stop its viral spread," she concludes. Thanks for reading, |
