Daily Border Links: May 28, 2024
Adam Isacson
Daily Border Links are following a sporadic publication schedule between May 3 and July 19. Regular daily updates will return on July 22.
Developments
Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector (7,400) saw more migrant apprehensions than its San Diego Sector (6,157) last week, according to tweets from the sector chiefs. For a period of eight weeks, San Diego had measured the most migration of all nine of Border Patrol’s U.S.-Mexico border sectors, for the first time since the late 1990s. But San Diego was eclipsed, at least for last week, after experiencing a 39 percent drop in migration over 3 weeks.
- “John R. Modlin @Usbpchieftca on Twitter” (Twitter, May 24, 2024).
- “Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. Mcgurk-Daniel @Usbpchiefsdc on Twitter” (Twitter, May 22, 2024).
If Joe Biden “were to try to shut down portions of the border, the courts would throw that out, I think, within a matter of weeks,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told CBS News’s Face the Nation. Murphy was Senate Democrats’ chief architect of unsuccessful border legislation that would have, among other provisions, shut down asylum access when migrant encounters exceeded a certain level at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Ted Hesson, “Biden Has ‘Limited Ability’ to Step Up Border Security, Democratic Senator Says” (Reuters, Reuters, May 26, 2024).
- Miranda Nazzaro, “Lawmakers Urge Congress to Take Action on Southern Border to Keep Migrant Decline”(The Hill, May 26, 2024).
A CNN analysis noted how Democratic legislators and candidates in tight races are most likely to favor placing limits on access to asylum at the border.
- Em Steck, “Democrats in Tight Races Support Border Bill Despite Past Opposition to Stricter Asylum Rules and Border Wall Money” (CNN, May 24, 2024).
“Last week U.S. authorities expelled 200 migrants who crossed through Gate 40 of the border fence [in El Paso] and handed them over to the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM) in Ciudad Juárez, where they were warned that they would be returned to Chiapas, a state on Mexico’s southern border,” EFE reported. Still, the article noted, Venezuelan migrants stranded in Ciudad Juárez are not giving up.
- “Migrantes Insisten en Cruzar a ee.uu. Por el Rio Bravo Pese Crecientes Deportaciones” (EFE, Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), May 28, 2024).
EFE also reported that fentanyl addiction is increasing in Ciudad Juárez, and some migrants in the Mexican border city are falling prey to it.
- “Fentanilo Engancha a Poblacion Migrante en Ciudad Juarez” (EFE, Milenio (Mexico), May 27, 2024).
Throughout the Mexican northern-border state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juárez is the largest city, migrants are being caught up in a worsening wave of ransom kidnappings carried out by organized crime, France24 reported.
- “Frontera Mexico-Eu: Alarma Entre los Migrantes por una Oleada de Secuestros” (France24, Proceso (Mexico), May 25, 2024).
“We’re gonna be barricading every area where people are crossing—until we get every area to have like this area is right now,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told CBS News’s 60 Minutes; “this area” was the heavily fortified Shelby Park in Eagle Pass. (Texas’s border with Mexico is about 1,200 miles long.)
In the same segment, Raúl Ortiz, who headed Border Patrol between 2021 and 2023, criticized Abbott for not cooperating with Border Patrol, but also voiced dissatisfaction with the Biden administration: “I’ve never had one conversation with the president. Or the vice president, for that matter.”
- Cecilia Vega, “Texas and Federal Government Clash Over How to Deter Illegal Border Crossings” (CBS News, May 26, 2024).
Former Border Patrol agent Hector Hernandez was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for taking bribes to smuggle methamphetamine and migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. Hernandez had been employed by Border Patrol in San Diego.
- Debbie L. Sklar, “Ex-Border Patrol Agent Sentenced Over 7 Years for Accepting Bribes, Smuggling” (Times of San Diego, May 24, 2024).
- Amber Coakley, “Former US Border Patrol agent sentenced for bribery, drug distribution” (Border Report, May 25, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
A Mother Jones analysis of the U.S. Border Patrol at its 100th anniversary highlighted aspects of the agency’s founding, at the urging of Texas Congressman Claude Benton Hudspeth, that reflect political and social tensions and contradictions about U.S. border security and immigration that remain in place today. “Chaos is not just the absence of a border; it is also the consequence of trying to maintain one,” Murphy wrote.
- Tim Murphy, “The Border Patrol Is an Engine of Crisis—and Has Been Since the Beginning” (Mother Jones, May 28, 2024).
Of 128 migrants transiting Panama interviewed by UNHCR earlier this month, 69 percent were from Venezuela, and of these, half came directly from Venezuela. Of the half of Venezuelans who had sought to live elsewhere before migrating northward, 60 percent had applied for legal status in those other countries, mainly Colombia, Peru, or Ecuador.
Of all 128, 69 percent reported suffering physical insecurity (attacks, drownings, or falls) while crossing the Darién. 22 percent observed between 1 and 20 cadavers along the trail.
- “Darien Panama: Mixed Movements Protection Monitoring May 2024” (UN Refugee Agency, May 27, 2024).
Colombia “would not agree with” Panamanian President-Elect José Raúl Mulino’s campaign promise to shut down the Darién Gap by deporting migrants who cross the treacherous route, said Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. Instead, “what we have to offer is more humanitarian outlets for this population that crosses through that area.”
The Colombian news site Cambio looked at the logistical, human rights, and practical obstacles that would stand in the way of “shutting down” the Darién.
- “Colombia “No Estaria de Acuerdo” Con Cierre de Ruta Migratoria del Darien: Canciller Murillo” (Agence France Presse, RCN (Colombia), May 25, 2024).
- “Tapon del Darien: ¿Colombia Esta Lista para el Cierre Anunciado por el Presidente Electo de Panama?”(Cambio (Colombia), May 28, 2024).
The Ecuadorian daily Primicias reported on the increasing number of northbound Ecuadorian citizens who are avoiding the Darién Gap by flying to El Salvador, which does not require visas of visiting Ecuadorians. “Between January and April 2024, 43,408 travelers have left Ecuador [for El Salvador] and 4,112 have returned.” Some are subject to bribery shakedowns and mistreatment by Salvadoran and other corrupt Central American officials.
- “Secuestros, Robos y Corrupcion, los Riesgos de la Migracion Ecuatoriana por el Salvador” (Primicias (Ecuador), May 26, 2024).
On the Right
- Jennie Taer, “Biden’s Ex-Border Chief Denounces Admin’s Policies, Says President Never Called: ‘That’s a Problem’” (The New York Post, May 27, 2024).
- Gabe Whisnant, “Texas Democrat Praises Greg Abbott Amid New Border Wall Construction” (Newsweek, May 27, 2024).
- Maryann Martinez, “Shocking Border Statistics Reveal Countries Migrants Are Flocking From” (The Daily Mail (UK), May 27, 2024).
- Ryan Mills, “Republicans Accuse Biden Admin of Using ‘Mass-Parole Programs’ to Hide ‘Catastrophic’ Border Crisis” (National Review, May 24, 2024).