BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) – Under a set of white tents on the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, dozens of Venezuelan men waited. Some sat on the sidewalks and others leaned on metal barricades. When the gates finally opened, the long line of men slowly made their way up the pedestrian walkway to the bridge and across the Rio Grande River into Mexico.
In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have facilitated those removals three times a day as about 30,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have entered the United States in that region since mid-April. That compares with the 1,700 migrants that Border Patrol agents found in the first two weeks of April.
At the other end of the state, in El Paso, officials are grappling with a new wave of migrants and worry that thousands more are waiting to cross.
All of this comes as the United States prepares for the end of a policy tied to the coronavirus pandemic that allowed it to quickly deport many migrants, and raises concerns about whether the end of immigration limits under Title 42 of a 1944 public health law means even more migrants trying to cross the southern border.
“We have been preparing for a long time and we are ready. What we hope for is actually an increase. And what we’re doing is planning for different levels of escalation,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week during a visit to South Texas. But he also stressed that the situation at the border is “extremely difficult “.
He spoke from a site in Brownsville where US officials had set up a tent and facilities such as portable toilets for the migrants. He said it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of Venezuela’s recent surge, but said the US is working with Mexico to address it and predicted a change “shortly.”
Many of those crossing the border are entering through Brownsville, north of the Mexican border city of Matamoros. The city was rocked by another crisis on Sunday when an SUV hit people waiting at a bus stop outside the city’s migrant shelter. Eight people died, mostly men from Venezuela.
Ricardo Marquez, a 30-year-old Venezuelan man, arrived at a shelter in McAllen after crossing the border with his wife and 5-month-old son in Brownsville. They left Venezuela because their daughter needs an operation.
“I was faced with the decision to stay there or risk everything for my daughter,” she said. They had crossed the Rio Grande after spending a month in Matamoros trying to get an appointment through an app the United States uses to schedule appointments for undocumented people to come to the border and seek entry.
Officials in President Joe Biden’s administration say they have been preparing for more than a year for the end of Title 42. The strategy has been based on providing more legal pathways for migrants to come to the US without risking the dangerous journey to the border. This includes things like setting up centers in foreign countries where migrants can apply for immigration, as well as a humanitarian parole process already in place with 30,000 slots a month for people from four countries to come to the U.S. From May 12, they are expanding the appointments available. through the CBP One application that Marquez attempted to use. When it was launched, many migrants and advocates criticized the app, saying it had technological problems and there simply weren’t enough citations.
Strategy also has consequences. The US is proposing a rule that would severely limit asylum to migrants who first travel through another country, quickly screening migrants who seek asylum at the border and deporting those deemed unqualified, and a five-year re-entry ban for deported
Many of these consequences have received harsh criticism from immigrant rights groups who have come to compare the policies with those of then-President Donald Trump and say that the right to seek asylum on American soil is sacrosanct. Much of the Biden administration’s strategy also faces legal dangers in the coming weeks. The proposed rule limiting asylum is almost certain to be the subject of lawsuits. And Republican-leaning states want to stop the Democratic administration’s use of humanitarian parole on such a large scale.
The administration has also increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights to remove people from the country, flights like the one that recently took off from an airport in Harlingen, Texas. Shortly after dawn, three buses pulled up next to a plane. One by one the migrants got off the bus. They wore handcuffs and leg braces and surgical masks. First they were patted down for contraband and then slowly walked up the stairs to the plane. In total, 133 migrants were sent back to their country of origin, Guatemala.
But these flights only work if the countries accept them. Venezuela does not. And Colombia says it is suspending deportation flights because of the “cruel and degrading” treatment of migrants.
Administration officials say they are using the technology to speed up the processing of migrants crossing the border without documents and with mobile processing, so they can process migrants while being transported by bus or van, for example. They have pushed to digitize documents that were once filled out by hand by the Border Patrol. And they have strengthened the hiring of contractors so that agents can remain in the field.
But critics have slammed the administration, saying it is not doing enough. Kristen Sinema, an independent U.S. senator from Arizona, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday that the administration was not communicating with local officials about things like what kind of increase to expect or whether there would be buses available to transport migrants. And he said the decision to send 1,500 military troops to the border came too late.
In communities bordering Mexico, officials and community groups serving newly arrived migrants are worried about what the end of Title 42 means. Sister Norma Pimentel runs Catholic Charities’ Humanitarian Respite Center, the largest shelter from south texas.
The shelter functions primarily as a resource center where migrants can buy tickets, make calls, eat and rest before traveling to their next destination, where they often have family or other contacts. But, Pimentel said, many of the Venezuelans in this latest surge don’t have connections in the United States, making it harder for them to move to the next destination. “That becomes a problem for us,” he said.
The federal government is giving money to communities to help them cope with the increase in migrants. On Friday, the administration announced that $332 million had been disbursed to 35 local governments and service organizations. Most of it goes to communities near the border “because of the emergencies they face,” but cities far from the border also receive funds.
In the Texas border city of El Paso, about 2,200 migrants are currently encamped or living on the streets within blocks of the main ports of entry connecting El Paso to the Mexican city of Juarez. The city is prepared to open shelters next week if needed in two vacant school buildings and a civic center.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 migrants are in Juarez waiting to cross, as local officials prepare for the “unknown.” Leeser said migrants are approaching the border under false assumptions that it will be easier to enter the US when Title 42 is gone, but for many there could be harsher consequences.
It’s a message federal officials have been repeating. But they are competing against a powerful human trafficking network that facilitates migration north and the desperation of migrants who feel they have no other choice.
At the Brownsville port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they’ve held drills to prepare in case there’s a wave of migrants trying to cross and they have to close the bridge. Pedestrians cross from Matamoros on a covered walkway that can accommodate only a few people. Concerned about the impact of long lines of migrants arriving at the port after May 11 without an appointment and affecting port operations, they are asking people to schedule appointments through CBP One.
___
Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press writer Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, NM contributed to this report.
