(Daily Mail) The Border Patrol Union has laid into Homeland Security for telling migrants and smugglers where and when it’ll ‘conduct targeted enforcement’ – two days before Title 42 expires.
The dispute broke out between the U.S. government department tasked with securing the nation’s border and the union of the agents working for them, just as record numbers of migrants are streaming across the southern border in their thousands.
Late on Monday night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection together with the Department for Homeland Security announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be conducting a targeted enforcement operation in El Paso, Texas.
The operation would see officers with the federal authorities look to track down migrants who came across the U.S. border illegally and who escaped any sort of processing by immigration authorities.
But the union representing the Border Patrol agents stated the ‘entire operation is a sad joke’ and ‘another pandering PR stunt.’
Migrants waiting to cross the Rio Bravo into the United States are pictured on 8 May 2023
Migrants wait to cross into the United States before the Title 42 policy comes to an end, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on 8 May, 2023
Groups of people gather as they wait to cross the Rio Bravo into the United States, on Monday
Late on Monday night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection together with the Department for Homeland Security announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be conducting a targeted enforcement operation in El Paso, Texas
Strategically speaking, the announcing of such information makes little sense with those seeking to evade capture by the authorities now given advance warning
The operation would come just as Border Patrol revealed how its agents caught 26,000 migrants in just three days between Friday and Sunday.
While the numbers are startlingly high, the announcement by the CBP of its impending op has irked its members with the Border Patrol Union who are unhappy the people they are tasked with apprehending have now been given a heads-up to get out of town.
‘Nothing like publicly announcing that dangerous people will be arrested, while warning them ahead of time exactly where to run and hide to avoid arrest. This entire operation is a sad joke – another pandering PR stunt. Serious law enforcement leaders don’t behave this way,’ the Border Patrol Union – NBPC tweeted on Monday night.
Strategically speaking, the announcing of such information makes little sense with those seeking to evade capture by the authorities now given advance warning.
‘As we have said repeatedly, individuals who do not have a lawful basis to remain will be removed,’ said Acting Commissioner Troy Miller. ‘Individuals should not listen to the lies of smugglers and instead use lawful pathways to protection.’
The announcement of the operation came just as hundreds of migrants flooded across the Mexican border into Texas on Monday only days before Trump/pandemic-era Title 42 restrictions are shelved for good.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol revealed how over the weekend 26,382 migrants crossed the border from May 5-7.
It is one of the largest group of migrants ever seen crossing the border in such at short time period into Brownsville, Texas with an average of 8,794 migrants coming into the United States each day over the weekend.
Migrants are pictured in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Monday as they wait to cross into the US
Pictured: migrants walk alongside the Rio Bravo near barbed wire between the US and Mexico
A man helps a woman scale a bank of the Rio Grande to be processed by El Paso border patrol after crossing from Ciudad Juarez on 8 May
Hundreds of migrants are seen streaming across into Texas from Mexico as Border Patrol reveals it caught 26,000 in just three days
Extremely long lines have suddenly starting appearing at the southern border in recent days
Texas National Guard officers prepare to deal with migrants at the border
Texas National Guard officers preparing to deal with migrants at the border in Brownsville
Hundreds of migrants arrive in Ciudad Juarez to cross the border into the United States before the Title 42 policy, which allows for the immediate expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country, comes to an end
Migrants line up to process immigration papers in Tapachula, Mexico. A new wave of nearly 5,000 migrants from various countries arrived in Chiapas on Monday
Migrants gather between the primary and secondary border fences in San Diego as the United States prepares to lift COVID-19-era restrictions known as Title 42, that have blocked migrants at the U.S.- Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020
Title 42 is set to expire Thursday, May 11, migrants are lining up at the southern border to immediately cross into the U.S. once the policy is no longer in use. Pictured: Hundreds of migrants arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Sunday, May 7 to cross the border into El Paso, Texas
The Governor of Texas, Gregg Abbott is wasting no time in tackling the problem and on Monday announced the formation of an Elite Border Response Force consisting of National Guard Soldiers
A young boy peers through the border wall as migrants gather at the border with Mexico
Bags, belongings and clothes dumped by migrants along the border can be seen strewn
COVID-19-era restrictions known as Title 42, that have blocked migrants at the U.S.- Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020 are about to be lifted
The Biden administration estimates that the number could increase to 13,000 every day once Title 42 is no longer in use. Other external estimates have put that number even higher.
The Governor of Texas, Gregg Abbott is wasting no time in tackling the problem and on Monday announced the formation of an Elite Border Response Force consisting of National Guard Soldiers.
They will be deployed to the southern border ‘with the tools needed to be effective’ including night vision goggles and riot gear.
Some reports indicate that there are between 700,000 and 1 million migrants that could cross in the days following the end of the pandemic-era expulsion policy.
Abbott noted on Monday that his state is pressing onward to ‘very quickly build as many barriers as possible to turn back as many people as possible.’
Abbott, a Republican who has criticized the Democratic president’s approach to border security, said the Texas Tactical Border Force would target ‘hot spots’ where migrants try to enter the United States illegally.
‘With the ending of Title 42 on Thursday, President Biden is laying down the welcome mat to people across the entire world,’ said Abbott.
‘The Texas National Guard is loading Blackhawk helicopters and C-130s and deploying specially trained soldiers for the Texas Tactical Border Force, who will be deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally.’
Abbott said he would continue busing migrants from small Texas border towns to big cities like Chicago and New York.
Thousands of migrants have made the dangerous trek to the U.S. southern border over the last several years by hopping onto moving trains
Gov. Abbott shakes the hands of members of the Texas National Guard on Monday, May 8 in Austin, Texas as they prepare to deploy to the southern border to provide assistance with the end of Title 42 in just three days
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is deploying the newly formed Texas Tactical Border Force Monday to help manage ‘hot spots’ at the southern border with the impending end of Title 42
As Title 42 is set to expire Thursday, May 11, migrants are lining up at the southern border to immediately cross into the U.S. once the policy is no longer in use. Pictured: Hundreds of migrants arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Sunday, May 7 to cross the border into El Paso, Texas
The numbers of those attempting to infiltrate the United States is very likely to increase further as pandemic-era rules that have made claiming asylum at the border all-but impossible finally expire.
CBP Chief Raul Ortiz revealed in a tweet Monday that in the last 72 hours CBP had been able to identify 7,399 ‘gotaways’ and seize 329 pounds of various drugs, including fentanyl, meth and heroin.
Abbott insists that a border barrier needs to be completed to ‘immediately’ stop in-flow of migrants.
Illegal immigration and unlawful border crossings have reached an all-time high under President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In Brownsville, a makeshift processing center has been established at a baseball field.
Hundreds of people, many Venezuelans, are already on the streets.
In El Paso, traditionally the busiest border crossing, authorities are readying empty schools to use as shelters, and ramping up transport to help migrants get where they want to go, places where they have family or friends, or the offer of work.
The city’s mayor, Leeser, says such sticking plaster solutions need a permanent fix.
‘The federal immigration laws are broken,’ he said. ‘There is no endgame. There is no finish to this and we really need to figure out where we’re heading.’
Aside from Brownsville, in other border cities including El Paso and Laredo a state of emergency has been declared as they struggle to cope with hundreds of people — most from Latin America, who are already there.
Near San Diego, California, on Monday, hundreds of migrants were waiting between two U.S. border fences as U.S. Customs and Border Protection appeared to struggle to process them.
‘We don’t know who is encouraging them. That is the million-dollar question. We think it might be the traffickers,’ said Enrique Lucero, director of migrant affairs for the city of Tijuana in Mexico.
In El Paso, people sleep on the streets, cowering from the sun under sheets, or sleeping on cardboard. Grubby children beg for change.
The city’s mayor, Oscar Leeser, said his officials were readying for many more on Friday, judging by a recent tour of the neighboring Mexican city of Cuidad Jaurez.
‘On the street we estimated somewhere between eight to 10,000 people,’ he said.
‘There is a caravan… that will be here probably close to May 11, so I say the real number that we’ll be dealing with is between 12-15,000 people.’
Dasling Sanchez holds her sleeping sons as they rest next near a gas station in downtown Brownsville, Texas, on May 6, 2023
A group of migrants, the majority coming from Venezuela, attempt to rest in a parking garage after being released by Customs and Border Protection agents in Brownsville, Texas
A group of migrants charge their phones outside a Catholic shelter in Brownsville, Texas
The surge is expected because of the expiration of Title 42 on Thursday at 11.59pm EDT.
The rule was put in place under Donald Trump to prevent people with Covid-19 from entering the country. In practice it has been little more than a crude tool to swiftly expel those trying to migrate, without accepting their asylum claim.
But from Friday, migrants will once again be able to lodge asylum claims and to have their cases dealt with through the legal system, a process that can take years.
President Joe Biden’s administration is under pressure from Republican Party opponents who claim immigration is out of control. Some in the party forecast more than a million people will arrive at the border in the next three months.
Biden is hoping new rules together with 1,500 active duty troops he has ordered to the border, will help staunch that flow.
Hundreds of specialized investigative agents and air marshals from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are being pulled from day-to-day duties to help with border management.
Under the post-Title 42 arrangements, people who cross illegally will find it much harder to prove their case for asylum.
Those who are rejected will be deported to their home countries or back to Mexico, and barred from trying again for several years.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday poured scorn on Biden’s plans, saying the administration was ‘laying down the welcome mat to people across the entire world.’
He ordered hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers to the frontier ‘to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally.’
Under the new rules, would-be migrants are being encouraged to make their asylum application on an app, and to enter the country through regular ports.
But for those gathered in Ciudad Juarez, the CBP One app is frustrating, with repeated glitches and difficulties getting an appointment.
Some have decided to abandon it and try their luck surrendering to US border patrol at one of the official crossings, but that is also problematic.
A system that allows a limited number of Venezuelans to apply for asylum has been in place for several months, but it has been overwhelmed by the sheer number of those looking to flee their dysfunctional homeland.
