Tag: southern border

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Other GOP Governors to Gather at Border to Pressure Biden on Illegal Immigration

The Center Square

Republican Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona are hosting nine governors in Mission, Texas, Wednesday to denounce President Joe Biden’s policies leading to a surge in illegal immigration at the southern border.

“Texas and Arizona have stepped up to secure the border in the federal government’s absence, and now the Emergency Management Assistance Compact gives your state a chance to stand strong with us,” Ducey and Abbott said in a joint statement this summer. Both governors issued disaster and emergency declarations in their states earlier this year, citing increased crime and financial strains on county governments and law enforcement because of the surge in illegal immigration due to Biden’s policies.

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Biden’s Approval Rating Tanks Again in Latest Poll

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Joe Biden

President Joe Biden’s approval rating has declined to 50%, its lowest level since he took office, the latest Associated Press-NORC poll showed.

While 50% of Americans approved of Biden’s job performance, 49% disapproved, according to the AP poll released Friday. The survey — conducted between Sept. 23-27 — showed the president’s approval rating declining to 85% among Democrats, 38% among Independents and 11% among Republicans, each category’s lowest level of Biden’s presidency.

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Border Patrol Agents Could Be Fired If They Don’t Get Vaccinated for COVID-19

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Border Patrol agents could be fired if they’re not vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of November, two active agents and a union official told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday.

Border officials have until Nov. 22 to get vaccinated or face three levels of discipline including “verbal counseling, one – 14 days without pay and removal from service,” a senior Border Patrol agent told the DCNF. The agent spoke on the condition of anonymity since they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.

“So it’s official now. They are implementing disciplinary action for the unvaccinated,” the agent told the DCNF.

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Homeland Security Secretary Moves to Protect DACA after Texas Court Ruling Halted the Program

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Alejandro Mayorkas

The Biden administration Monday announced a plan to create a rule to reestablish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, following the decision by a Texas court that found the Obama-era program unlawful and halted the ability of “Dreamers” to apply for immigration protections.

The Homeland Security Department announced that the new rule aims to “preserve and fortify” DACA by addressing some of the court’s concerns over the way the policy was implemented.

In July, a federal district judge in Texas ruled that DACA violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The decision prevents future applications to the program, but leaves standing the program’s benefits that have already been afforded to close to 600,000 people.

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Around 12,400 Migrants Are Waiting to See Whether They’ll Be Allowed to Remain in U.S.

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U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visits with a group of Border Patrol agents and CBP employees as he tours the Del Rio Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2021. DHS photo by Benjamin Applebaum

Around 12,400 migrants could be allowed to remain in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a White House press conference on Friday.

Border officials relied on Title 42, a Trump-era public health order implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expel most migrants from the U.S., according to Mayorkas. Migrants who needed immediate medical attention or who feared torture if they were returned to their home country weren’t subject to removal.

“Approximately 12,400 will have cases heard by an immigration judge to make a determination on whether they’ll be removed or permitted to remain in the United States,” Mayorkas said. If someone is not subject to title 42 expulsion for the three reasons that I explained, acute vulnerability, operational capacity limitations, or a convention against torture exception, then the individual is placed in immigration proceedings.

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Homeland Security Chief Admits More Than 12,000 Haitians Released into U.S.

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs regarding the Threats to the Homeland. Secretary Mayorkas was joined by Christopher Wray, FBI Director and Christine Abizaid, the Director of National Counterterrorism Center. (DHS Photo by Zachary Hupp)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas disclosed Sunday that more than 12,000 Haitian illegal immigrants who had gathered in Texas near the southern border are being released into the United States.

“Approximately, I think it’s about ten thousand or so, twelve thousand,” Mayorkas told “Fox News Sunday” when asked how many have Haitians were already released.

He insisted those released were being monitored to ensure compliance with the law. When host Chris Wallace noted more than 40% of illegal aliens historically skip their immigration hearings, the secretary said there were plans in place to aggressively arrest those who don’t show up.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: Biden’s Border Disaster

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As President Joe Biden vacationed at Rehoboth Beach, the disaster at the U.S. southern border continued to metastasize.

Anyone who has seen pictures of thousands of people crossing the Rio Grande en masse knows the administration has achieved complete failure.

Anyone who has seen the overhead drone footage of more than 12,000 people gathered under one bridge in South Texas knows that massive, historic incompetence is being allowed to flourish.

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Border Patrol Requested Additional Aid in Del Rio Months Before Thousands of Migrants Arrived

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U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks with Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Raul Ortiz as he tours the Del Rio Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2021.

Border Patrol agents requested additional federal aid in Del Rio, Texas, months before thousands of migrants set up a temporary camp under an international bridge and overwhelmed immigration officials, CNN Politics reported Thursday.

Border officials reported an increase in migrants crossing the Rio Grande River earlier in the summer but didn’t know more than 14,000 migrants would end up setting up camp under the bridge, according to CNN Politics. On June 1, the union representing Del Rio Border Patrol agents asked for additional technology resources to help agents quickly process large groups of migrants in the field before sending them to a station.

“This way, we can at least get part of the process finished before they even get to the station instead of wasting that time,” said Jon Afinsen, president of the National Border Patrol Council in Del Rio, in an email exchange with regional Border Patrol management, CNN Politics reported.

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Roger Simon Commentary: The Democrats’ War on Blacks Keeps Growing in the Pandemic

RealClearWire

One of the key reasons I left the Democratic Party years ago was the atrocious way they treated black people.

I’m not just talking about “Jim Crow” or LBJ’s well-known patriarchal and racist use of the “n-word” to celebrate blacks voting Democratic forever in gratitude for his ultimately useless early “virtue signaling” called the “War on Poverty.”

(Notice any difference between South Central then and now?)

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26 Governors Seek Meeting with Biden over Border Surge

RealClearWire

More than half of the country’s governors would like a moment of the president’s time – and soon: Twenty-six Republican governors are urging Joe Biden to do more to address the deteriorating situation along the southern U.S. border.

“As chief executives of our states,” they write in a letter postmarked for Monday and first obtained by RealClearPolitics, “we request a meeting with you at The White House to bring an end to the national security crisis created by eight months of unenforced borders.”

The GOP chief executives are requesting an audience “within 15 days” given that the “the crisis that began at our southern border now extends beyond to every state and requires immediate action before the situation worsens.”

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U.S. to Begin Expelling Thousands of Migrants in Del Rio, Texas, Effort to Include Flights to Haiti

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A crowd of Haitian people

The Biden administration is expected to begin the large-scale expulsion Sunday of thousands of migrants encamped in the Texas border city of Del Rio, using several flights a day to return them to their home country.

The effort is expected to involve two to eight flights daily, sources told the Associated Press.

Migrants began arriving in Del Rio, a frequent destination for illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, several days ago, huddling under a bridge while they wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Many of them are from Haiti.

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Thousands of Migrants, Mostly From Haiti, Overwhelm Border Officials in Texas

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A crowd of Haitian people

Thousands of Haitian migrants overwhelmed border officials in Del Rio, Texas, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Border officials reportedly said that over 9,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, were waiting to be processed under the Del Rio International Bridge, according to the Times. A few hundred migrants crossed the shallow section of the Rio Grande River to the temporary site earlier this week, and officials reportedly expect thousands more to show up over the next few days.

More Border Patrol agents will be deployed to the area “to immediately address the current level of migrant encounters and to facilitate a safe, humane and orderly process,” the agency said, the Times reported. Migrants are told to wait under the bridge to get out of the hot Texas sun in an effort to stem heat-related illness before they’re taken into custody.

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Judge Ruling Prevents Abbott from Closing Planned Entry Points Along Southern Border

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Greg Abbott

A ruling from a federal judge on Thursday led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to abandon his plan to close six entry points on the southern border amid a surge of migrants, the El Paso Times reported.

The U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia blocked President Joe Biden from turning away migrant families with children under 18, citing a health order related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the El Paso Times reported. The order will take effect in 14 days.

Abbott announced Thursday he had directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to close six entry points along the southern border in a statement obtained by Fox News.

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Over 200,000 Illegal Migrants Encountered at the Southern Border for the Second Month in a Row

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Monthly border encounters with migrants attempting to illegally enter the U.S. decreased slightly in August for the first time since President Joe Biden took office but remain near record highs, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Border officials encountered nearly 209,000 migrants at the southern border in August, down from a record high of 213,500 people in July, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Officials encountered a record-high number of migrants compared to 50,000 in August 2020 and 62,700 in August 2019.

However, a “larger-than-usual number of migrants” are attempting to illegally cross the border several times so “total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border,” CBP announced. Officials encountered 156,600 unique individuals in August and 25% of them had at least one prior encounter in the last 12 months.

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Migrants Who Entered the U.S. Illegally Say Crossing Legally Is Only for ‘Privileged People’

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MCALLEN, Texas — Migrants who illegally crossed the border into the U.S. said immigrating legally is only an option for privileged people.

“We all don’t have the same capacity or the same opportunity,” a Honduran man who had just crossed into the U.S. illegally with a group into La Joya, Texas, told the Daily Caller News Foundation Saturday night. “Only privileged people can cross legally.”

Migrants may pay smugglers between $7,000 and $14,000 to enter the U.S. illegally, and the fee includes multiple tries if the person is deported from the U.S., Reuters reported. Becoming a U.S. citizen, however, takes years and can cost between $4,000 and $12,000 according to the Economic Times.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: No One Knows Where These Illegal Immigrants Are Going in America

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Watching television coverage of people crossing the border illegally at our southern border I began to wonder: where are they going?

I was shocked to learn that the Biden administration refuses to tell the states and cities how many people they are sending – and who they are sending. Apparently, immigrants just get put on airplanes, buses, and trains, and go off into America.

We are learning that a substantial number of the people who have crossed the border illegally have COVID-19. McAllen, Texas had to declare a state of emergency when 7,000 infected immigrants arrived there. So, the Biden government could send people with COVID-19 to your neighborhood and then refuses to tell you that it has put you at risk. 

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Republicans Sound Alarm on Biden Border Policy as COVID Spreads

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As the number of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border reaches a 20-year high and COVID-19 cases consequently spike, Republican lawmakers are blasting the Biden administration for the converging security and public health crises.

July saw the highest number of illegal immigrants crossing the border in over 20 years, with a total of 210,000. Simultaneously, fewer MS-13 gang members have been caught crossing the border this year than in each of the previous three years, and COVID-positive migrants are flooding the Texas border town of McAllen.

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CBP Reports Nearly 190,000 Illegal Border Crossers Came into the U.S. from Mexico in June

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Border officials encountered nearly 190,000 migrants at the southern border in June, a 5% increase over May’s numbers, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Friday.

There was a significant increase in the number of re-encounters in June, with 34% of individuals having at least one prior encounter in the past 12 months, compared to the average one-year re-encounter rate of 14% for Fiscal Years 2014-2019, the agency said in a statement.

“The large number of expulsions during the pandemic has contributed to a larger-than-usual number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts,” CBP said. “Which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border.”

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Republicans Embrace Immigration Restriction with Trump Border Visit

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Trump Border Visit

With President Donald Trump paying his first visit to the southern border since leaving the White House, numerous Republicans in Congress and various state offices solidified their support for his agenda of immigration hawkishness, as reported by Politico.

President Trump had been invited to the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas), and after weeks of preparation, the president finally made his visit on Wednesday. Governor Abbott, in his introduction of the president, pointed out that he had done “more to secure the border than anybody and any president ever has.”

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Tennessee Republican’s Donation Funded South Dakota National Guard Deployment to Texas

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National Guard on duty securing the Capitol building ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.

A Tennessee Republican billionaire offered South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem funding to send National Guard troops to Texas to help manage the border crisis, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Willis Johnson, 74, who earned his fortune by creating an international junkyard empire, offered Noem $1 million to deploy the South Dakota National Guard to the southern border, according to the AP. Noem accepted the donation despite Johnson living in Tennessee, earning skepticism from experts who said the donation could set a precedent for wealthy individuals to essentially activate the U.S. military for political reasons.

“I didn’t know it would build into a bonfire,” Johnson told the AP. “It’s getting out there a lot more than I thought.”

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Trump Says Southern Border Is ‘More Dangerous Than It’s Ever Been’ Under Biden

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Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday the southern border is “more dangerous than it’s ever been” after the Biden administration reversed most of Trump’s immigration policies, Fox News reported.

The Biden administration ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program on June 1 and is eyeing an end to public health order Title 42 that allows border officials to rapidly expel most migrants to Mexico at the end of July, Axios reported June 20. Biden also said he would stop construction on the border wall, prompting Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to announce plans for the state to begin construction on its own wall, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

“There has never been a border so secure as the southern border that we had, and now it’s opened up,” Trump said, according to Fox News. “Now we have an open, really dangerous, border. More dangerous than it’s ever been in the history of our country, and we better go back fast.”

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More Lethal Fentanyl Found Along the Southern Border this Year Than Last

The Center Square

Federal authorities have seized significantly more fentanyl along the U.S.-Mexican border in Arizona and California since October than they did in the entire 2020 fiscal year.

Since October, authorities have seized 7.000 pounds of the drug, compared to just 4,500 pounds in the entire last fiscal year, according to data from Customs and Boarder Protection. The reasoning, according to authorities, is simply supply and demand.

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Minnesota Rep. Hagedorn Condemns Biden’s ‘America Last’ Policies After Visiting Southern Border

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Rep. Jim Hagedorn slammed President Joe Biden’s “America last” policies after visiting the southern border last week.

“It’s like they flipped a switch and they had open borders. Before you know it, catch-and-release is back and people are literally, for all intents and purposes, being invited to the border because they know they’re going to be processed and then sent deep into the United States, and given a lot of free things as they go,” Hagedorn told Newsmax.

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Increased Number of Migrants from India and Haiti Attempting to Cross into the U.S.

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An increasing number of migrants from India, Romania, Haiti and Cuba are attempting to enter the U.S. through the southern border, Axios reported Wednesday.

Migrants are reportedly flying to Central America since U.S. courts are backlogged with asylum cases preventing them from living or working in the country as their case is processed, according to Axios. Border officials encountered over 33,000 migrants from countries other than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador attempting to enter the U.S. in April, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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Blackburn Demands Answers on Federal Employees Covering Up Border Crisis

Cooper Moran

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called on the Biden administration for answers on why they used untrained federal government bureaucrats to care for the surge in unaccompanied alien children.

The letter questions the decision by the Biden administration to send staff from agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission, to the border facilities.

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Biden Admin Considers Changing Trump’s Pandemic Border Closures to Allow ‘Vulnerable’ Migrants into US: Report

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The Biden administration is reportedly considering changes to a Trump-era public health order that allows for asylum-seeking migrants to be rapidly expelled to their country of origin, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday.

The Biden administration’s unofficial plan could grant humanitarian exceptions to some migrants allowing them to enter the U.S. regardless of former President Donald Trump’s implementation of Title 42, a public health order issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic allowing officials to expel migrants at the southern border, BuzzFeed reported.

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Arizona’s Democratic Senators Want More Homeland Security Personnel on the Southern Border

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Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly

Arizona’s Democratic senators called on President Joe Biden’s administration to increase the number of Homeland Security personnel on the southern border to better respond to increasing number of migrants.

In a letter Wednesday, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly also requested that the White House reimburse Arizona for its deploying of approximately 500 National Guard members to better respond to the crisis.

“From recent conversations with local community leaders, law enforcement, and local Department of Homeland Security officials, it’s clear that their resources, staffing and capabilities are strained,” they wrote. “While additional resources were passed in the American Rescue Plan and provided by FEMA and DHS, additional personnel are needed at the border to ensure our communities are protected, and migrants are treated fairly and humanely.”

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Biden Picks Top Immigration Officials as Migrants Continue to Arrive at Southern Border

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Group of immigrants at border

President Joe Biden announced two key immigration official nominations Monday as migrants continue to arrive at the southern border in record numbers.

Police Chief Chris Magnus of Tucson, Arizona, will be nominated to head Customs and Border Protection and immigrant rights advocate Ur Jaddou will be tapped to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), according to a statement.

“They are highly-regarded and accomplished professionals with deep experience in their respective fields,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, Bloomberg reported. “Together they will help advance the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to ensure the safety and security of the American people.”

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Ambassador Callista Gingrich Commentary: The Human Crisis at the U.S. Southern Border

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Border Surge

The surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border has dramatically increased in recent months.  According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”

In February, changes in U.S. border policy and the search for a better life incentivized more than 100,000 migrants to travel to the United States and cross the southern border.  

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Government Accountability Office Investigates Biden’s Decision to Halt Border Wall Construction

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has opened an investigation into President Joe Biden’s decision to freeze congressional funds allocated for construction of the southern border wall, Politico reported.

Senate Republicans requested the GAO investigate the Biden administration for potentially violating the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), which prohibits the president from altering funding appropriated by Congress without approval, Politico reported. Republicans are referring to the $1.4 billion allocated for border wall construction in the $900 billion COVID bill passed by Congress in December.

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Biden Team Ignored Warnings from Career Immigration Officials That Their Actions Could Cause a Border Crisis

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border-surge_840x480

The Biden administration ignored career immigration officials’ warnings of an impending surge in the number of migrants arriving at the southern border, The Washington Post reported.

The administration has repeatedly refused to refer to the situation as a crisis, despite a seeming inability to curb the increasing flow of migrants, the Post reported. The administration’s mixed messaging, which often appeals to liberal activists, has hampered efforts to halt the influx of migrants at the southern border, according to the Post.

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Biden Admin Won’t Expel Migrant Minors Despite Running out of Places to Hold Them

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The Biden administration won’t expel unaccompanied minor migrants despite holding facilities rapidly running out of room to house them, a Homeland Security Department official said Tuesday.

The U.S. is on track to see a record number of migrants at the southern border this year and officials are expelling most single adults and family units but allowing unaccompanied minors to remain in government facilities, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. Over 9,400 unaccompanied minors were apprehended in February and nearly 30,000 have been encountered since October 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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Four Suspects on the FBI’s Terror Watchlist Arrested at the Border Since October

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Since October, four terrorists who are on the FBI’s terror watchlist have been arrested trying to sneak across the southern border, as reported by Fox News.

The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed the news to Congress on Tuesday, revealing that three of the detained terrorists were from Yemen, while the fourth is from Serbia. This is down slightly from the fiscal year 2018, where six members on the terror watchlist, from Yemen and Bangladesh, were arrested at the border.

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Mayorkas: Southern Border Crossings on Pace to Hit 20-Year High

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that the number of migrants apprehended at the United States’ southern border is on track to hit a two-decade high.

“We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children.”

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Child Migration Quickly Overwhelming Biden Administration’s Resources, Internal Documents Show

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The number of child migrants crossing the United States’ southern border is quickly exceeding the federal government’s ability to hold them, internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show.

In the final week of February, Border Patrol referred an average of 321 children a day to HHS custody, according to Axios, which first reported the documents’ findings. Child migrant crossings averaged 203 per day in late January, and just 47 a day during the first week of 2021.

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Biden Administration Weighing How to Prevent a Humanitarian Crisis with Increasing Numbers of Unaccompanied Children Arriving at the Border

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The Biden administration aims to avoid a humanitarian crisis at the southern border as the number of migrant children seeking asylum increases.

Over 5,700 unaccompanied minors reached the border in January and government shelters are quickly reaching capacity, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shelters for migrant children are operating at 60% capacity to maintain COVID-19 guidelines and were 93% full as of Friday.

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Joe Biden Ends President Trump’s National Emergency on Southern Border

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Joe Biden has announced that his administration will be ending the declaration of a national emergency on the southern border that was first declared by the Trump Administration, as reported by Fox News.

President Trump first declared the national emergency in February of 2019, which allowed him to allocate billions of federal dollars to the construction of the wall after Congress repeatedly blocked his efforts to do so. The move allowed for nearly 500 miles of new border wall to be constructed by the end of his first term. Biden announced the decision in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in which he described the policy as “unwarranted.”

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Biden Administration Expects to Rely on Trump-Era Private Detention Facility to Hold Migrant Teenagers at the Border

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A Trump-era temporary private facility for holding unaccompanied migrant teenagers will reopen at the southern border as the Biden administration anticipates it will be needed within the next two weeks.

The spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human (HHS) Administration for Children and Families declined to answer when asked how the Biden administration’s treatment of detained children would differ from conditions during the Trump administration and instead pointed to President Joe Biden’s executive order on reuniting separated families.

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Biden Ends Trump-Era Deals with Central American Countries to Reduce Asylum Claims at US Border

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Arrangements made between the U.S. and three Central American countries to curb the number of asylum claims at the U.S. border were suspended Saturday, the Biden administration announced.

The Asylum Cooperative Agreements that limited some asylum seekers from making claims in the U.S. and required them to instead seek asylum in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were suspended and scheduled to be terminated with an executive order signed Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.

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