Asylum-seekers being flown from the Rio Grande Valley to El Paso due to limited capacity are being expelled to Mexico by CBP, according to the Dallas Morning News. Exact numbers are unclear, but at least 50 migrants have been expelled into Juarez.
The first few weeks of the Biden administration have seen an uptick in ICE’s deportations of Haitian migrants, with dozens of asylum seekers being dropped off in Mexico without processing or credible fear interviews. Others, including children and infants, are being sent back to Haiti, which is experiencing mounting political violence due to U.S-backed president Jovenel Moïse attempting to extend his term.
President Biden released executive orders creating a task force on family separation and calling for a review, with intent to end, “safe third-country” agreements, Title 42, the Remain in Mexico program, and other Trump policies restricting migration. The administration has not yet committed to ending these policies. One order calls for a new policy framework to address migration’s root causes in Central America.
Details ICE’s practice of holding migrant families and children under contractors’ custody in border-town hotels before expelling them under measures put in place due to COVID-19.
Over 3,000 unaccompanied children have been summarily expelled back to Mexico or Central America, with no way even to track what’s happened to them. Some first spend days in hotels guarded by unlicensed contractors.
The New Humanitarian releases a briefing on how the actions of the Trump administration to cut off access to asylum will outlast the pandemic and affect not only asylum seekers but regions of Latin America that have suffered outbreaks due to the United States’ expulsions.
According to unpublished government data obtained by CBS News, the United States allowed only 39 unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the country in the month of May when there were over 1,000 arrests of unaccompanied children. Jennifer Nagda, a policy director at the Youth Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, argues that because of these record-low rates, the Office of Refugee Resettlement can and should offer refuge to unaccompanied children during the pandemic, as the Office now has ample bed capacity.
The Texas Civil Rights Project and ACLU file a lawsuit on behalf of a Salvadoran teenager arguing that the expulsion policy violates several federal laws, including one designed to shield minors from violence and exploitation.
Five key House leaders demand that DHS and ICE cease the rushed deportation of unaccompanied children who are in the United States’ care. The Representatives cite a May 18 report that provides insight into the violence faced by the children deported so far.
UNICEF releases a report regarding the over 1,000 unaccompanied children expelled to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras since March. UNICEF calls on the U.S. to end the deportations of unaccompanied children, as well as those “without prior adequate protection and health screenings.” UNICEF urges governments to take additional concrete measures to protect the wellbeing of uprooted children in general.
NPRreleases a two-part series investigating the increasing pressure put on refugees seeking safety in the United States from the southern border. It follows migrants waiting in Ciudad Juárez who are living through the United States’ rapid policy changes, and also focuses on the support the Trump administration receives from the Mexican government despite public rejection of U.S. policies.
CBP and ICE announce that Mexican migrants caught crossing the border into the United States will now be expelled via air flight to Mexico City instead of back to border cities. The expulsion policy will stay in place indefinitely and will be reviewed every 30 days.
Over 50 public health experts sign a letter for Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield urging U.S. officials to withdraw the order first issued on March 20 that has enabled the mass expulsion of asylum seekers. As the nation’s leading public health experts at the forefront of the response to the novel coronavirus, they stress that the order is based on “specious justifications” and fundamentally fails to protect public health.
