This Week in Border Security: Week of October 29-November 5

Trump Administration Orders Troops To Southern Border  

The administration has announced that it will deploy up to 15,000 troops to the southern border in anticipation of the migrant caravan’s eventual arrival. This deployment now goes by the name of Operation Faithful Patriot. The Pentagon has claimed that as of November 2, 2018 as many as 3,500 troops have been deployed.

Soldiers have been sent with the declared purpose of providing support to Border Patrol. By law, soldiers cannot enforce immigration laws, which in turn limits their engagement with immigrants. Mother Jones stated that soldiers will often find themselves bored with logistical tasks.

The graph above shows how on average a single border patrol agent apprehended 18 individuals last fiscal year, casting doubt on a need for military presence at the border. Additionally, the military involvement of 5,200 troops, the number Defense Department personnel were announcing, can cost the United States about $1.75 million per day. If 15,000 are deployed per the claims of President Trump, the total cost can reach perhaps $250 million by the end of the year. According to AP News, troops have begun installing coils of razor wire on a bridge and riverbank of the border.  

Updates On Caravan

President Trump has made numerous public claims stating that the migrant caravan is heavily comprised of gang members and other criminals, not individuals fleeing violence and crime in their countries.

The caravan has dispersed into smaller groups of approximately four taking dangerous routes known for high crime rates. Some have already reached Mexico City while others have stayed in Veracruz or Oaxaca in Mexico. The leading group of the caravan consists of approximately 4,000 migrants. Assessments from historical trends predict that only a small percentage of this group will make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. 70 buses were initially scheduled to help the caravan advance through Mexico but strong pressure from the Mexican government caused this to fall through.  

The caravan is moving at a slow pace,  it may take 2 weeks to a month or more to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol agents have been ordered to ask anyone they apprehend whether they are part of the caravan or not.  

It is also notable that international and national law allows refugees to seek asylum regardless of how they entered. As the ACLU notes, law enforcement agencies would be in violation of their legal obligations if they deny caravan migrants the ability to seek asylum. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claims to lack the capacity to process the present amount of asylum seekers.

Updates On Families Separated By Zero Tolerance Policy

It has been over four months since the Trump administration retreated from the aspect of its “zero tolerance” policy that was separating families. Though the majority of affected families have been reunited, over 150 reunited families are still being held in South Texas detention centers. Some children are being held past the 20 day limit set forth by the Flores Agreement.

Additional Readings:

—Juliet Peña

This Week in Border Security: October 14-20

Caravan With up to 7,000 Central Americans Heads to the Mexico-U.S. Border  

On October 19, Honduran migrants set out on a caravan of 200 people heading to the United States from the city of San Pedro Sula. Along the way, many others joined the caravan to make a total number of over 7,000 migrants. President Trump has threatened to cut aid to Central American countries if the caravan is not stopped prior to reaching the United States. He has also threatened to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border if Mexico does not act against the caravan.  

When it reached the Mexico border, riot gear-clad Mexican law enforcement officials prevented most from using the official crossing over the Suchiate River into the border town of Ciudad Hidalgo. Most migrants crossed the river by other means.

The goal of traveling in a big group is “safety in numbers”: to protect each other from the violent crime that so often afflicts those taking the long migrant trail through Mexico. Historian and Honduras expert Dana Frank told AP News, “the caravan’s rapid growth ‘underscores quite how desperate the Honduran people are.’ Many are fleeing violence, poverty, and lack of public services in their home countries.”

Children Separated from Deported Parents are Adopted by U.S. Citizens  

Foster parents who took in a Salvadorian child, seized from her mother at the border, were granted full custody of the child by a state judge. Despite signing a promise not to seek adoption, the foster family filed for proceedings without letting the mother know. The mother of the then-2-year-old was deported back to El Salvador alone. Federally, foster parents are not allowed to adopt migrant children separated at the border from their parents. However, distinctions in wardship and adoption proceedings by counties allowed for the foster family to win custody.  

Although the prior separation case occurred before the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy” against border-crossers went into effect, the case sheds light on the possibility of adoption affecting the lives of hundreds of children seized during the summer of 2018.  

Trump Administration Developing New Plan to Separate Families at the Border  

The Trump administration is considering new policies to deter immigration, which some are calling “family separation 2.0.” Options include detaining asylum-seeking families together for up to 20 days—the maximum by which a court settlement allows children to be held in detention outside a registered childcare facility—and then giving the parents a “binary choice”. This, as The Washington Post states, is a decision to either “stay in family detention with their child for months or years as their immigration case proceeds or allow children to be taken to a government shelter so other relatives or guardians can seek custody.” Another option under consideration is to withdraw from the 1997 Flores settlement setting the 20-day limit and await further court challenges.

A Congressional Research Service report stated that “practice and legal barriers” prohibit the use of family separations as a deterrent to immigration. Another obstacle to implementing the proposed policy is the lack of detention space available, and the $319 per day documented cost of keeping a family in immigration detention.

Additional Readings

—Juliet Peña

This Week in Border Security: September 29-October 5

Judge Temporarily Blocks Termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

San Francisco U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ordered the Trump Administration to temporarily stop plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for citizens of Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador. This will prevent the deportation of approximately 300,000 immigrants facing expirations of their status starting in November, which would have forced them either to return to their countries of origin or to become undocumented. The case dealing with the matter at hand, Ramos v Nielsen, was brought on behalf on nine individuals protected under TPS and their U.S. citizen children. It cites the decision’s violation of the Equal Protection Clause by targeting “non-white, non European immigrants”.

Undocumented Children Are Being Transferred to Tornillo Camp

Undocumented children are being transferred, often overnight, from foster homes and shelters all over the country to Texas’ Tornillo Detention Camp. The camp, which was supposed to be a temporary detention site for children, will now remain open until at least the end of the year. From over 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children currently detained nationwide, at least 1,600 are being transferred to Tornillo each week. According to the Department of Health and Human Service, children are being held in custody for an average of 34 to 59 days in air-conditioned tents. Most are between the ages of 13-17 and likely to be released soon or be placed with sponsors.

Tornillo, unlike other locations housing detained children, is not monitored by state child welfare authorities. This means that Tornillo does not offer schooling or follow other safety guidelines created by the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, the camp has limited legal services available. Children are being transferred overnight and with minimal notice to decrease chances of escape attempts.

Senators Introduce Body-Worn Camera Act

Border-state Senators Kamala Harris (D-California), Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), and Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) introduced the Body-Worn Camera Act in the Senate. This would require agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to wear body cameras to address complaints against officers and provide more transparency. The practice, already adopted by other law enforcement agencies, would also provide evidence in criminal cases. The Democrats’ legislation has support from the Border Patrol agents’ union, which endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential primary. “Senator Harris worked with us to address concerns that the roll-out of Body Worn Cameras is handled with due care to ensure this technology is used with the utmost integrity and accountability,” the president of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, noted in a statement from the senators.

Additional Readings:

—Juliet Pena

This Week in Border Security: Weeks of September 10-26, 2018

Trump Administration Seeks to Make Changes to the ‘Public Charge’ Definition

The Trump administration is expected to publish in the Federal Register a new definition of “public charge.” The change would make undocumented immigrants who receive federal public benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing subsidies ineligible for work authorization (green cards). Other factors taken into consideration for the new public charge standard may be health conditions including mental health disorders, heart diseases, cancer and other illnesses likely to make an individual dependent on public benefits at government expense.

Federal law has always required potential green card holders to prove they will not be a public charge. However, ‘public charge’ has been previously defined as someone who solely receives cash benefits like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Immigrants who currently receive such benefits would not be penalized. The standard will be imposed after regulation has been finalized. According to the New York Times, the new rule would mostly affect immigrants seeking to reunite with their families in the United States, and those in the country with student or worker visas who seek to remain permanently. A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 20 million children in immigrant families relying on public assistance may be affected, 10 million of them U.S. citizens. Immigration advocates predict that immigrants will begin withdrawing from public benefits for fear of losing their legal status.

Trump Administration Diverted $10 Million from FEMA to ICE

The Washington Post reports that the Trump Administration has diverted ten million dollars from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) revealed the transfer, which was notified on a “Transfer and Reprogramming” budget document showing that the agency had requested the money for additional detention beds and transportation for migrant removal.

As critics questioned the transfer just at the onset of hurricane season, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) affirmed in a statement that the funds did not affect FEMA’s relief efforts. Tyler Q. Houlton, spokesperson for DHS, said in a series of tweets that money transferred to DHS came from a fund in FEMA that not designated for hurricane relief efforts due to budget limitations.

Tornillo Detention Camp Plans to Expand Beds for Unaccompanied Minors

The government announced plans to increase Tornillo Detention Camp beds for unaccompanied minors by 20% for a total of 3,800. The camp located east of El Paso, Texas was established in June 2018, during the zero-tolerance policy crisis, as a temporary detention center for unaccompanied minors. A source told Texas Monthly that once the camp is at its final stage it will cost approximately 100 million dollars a month to operate; this estimate—about$877 per child per day—seems a bit high.

U.S. Plans to Help Mexico Deport Undocumented Immigrants

A notice sent to Congress shows the State Department’s intent to give Mexico 20 million dollars in foreign assistance funds to help deport as many as 17,000 U.S.-bound undocumented immigrants in its territory. Most unauthorized immigrants in Mexico are Central Americans, some of whom make their way up to the U.S. - Mexico border.Department of Homeland Security Spokeswoman Katie Waldman said “the program was intended to help relieve immigration flows at the United States border with Mexico.”

Ice Requests Additional 1 Billion Dollars for Budget

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is lobbying for a $1 billion increase to its budget. The money would go to deporting a record high number of 253,000 immigrants in the fiscal year 2019. Though the agency was seeking approval by lawmakers on the “continuing resolution” bill keeping the government open until December 7, Congress did not agree.

Additional Readings

—Juliet Pena

This Week in Border Security: September 5, 2018

Over a Month After Order of Reunification, Hundreds of Children Remain Separated from Their Families  

It has been over a month since the expiration of a federal court-imposed deadline for the Trump administration to reunite children, separated by the zero-tolerance policy, with their families. Still, over 300 children, 22 of whom are under the age of 5, remain detained in shelters run by government contractors.

Approximately 360 parents were deported back to their countries of origin without their children. These parents await the return of their children; most do not know when they will see them again. Many agreed to deportation, waiving their right to seek asylum, under the false understanding that they would be sent back along with their children. Some agreed to leave their children in the U.S. to have a chance at a better life, few remain in detention centers themselves making reunification impossible and there are disputes about how many parents have indeed been contacted.  

Parents who remain in communication with their children allege abuse and mistreatment including, in some cases, the use of psychotropic drugs and sexual abuse while in custody. Beyond such egregious cases, experts signal the substantial trauma and long-term psychological effects on children of such long periods of separation.  

Advocates and attorneys are working to unify families. This has been made seriously complicated by law enforcement officials’ failure to keep correct information on parents and their relationships to children. Some parents have been denied reunification due to minor offenses on their record.  

The Administration Proposed to Keep Children Detained Indefinitely

The Flores Settlement, a 1997 court agreement modified in 2015, set standards for the detention of immigrant children, based on the “best interest of the child”. This has meant avoiding holding a child for over 20 days, even with family members, in licensed facilities. The Trump administration, which remains determined to detain families awaiting asylum decisions, officially published in the Federal Register changes it seeks to impose on the Flores Agreement. Some possibilities include being able to hold a child until his or her case is adjudicated, which would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand immigration detention centers. The current plan is for an expansion to 12,000 family detention beds from the current 3,000. Other requested adjustments include flexibility to decide when to give children snacks or transfers to other facilities and stripping away unaccompanied minors’ right to present their case in front of an asylum officer as opposed to an immigration judge.

U.S. Citizens are Being Denied Passports

Individuals in the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas are being denied passports, even if they have birth certificates proving that they were born inside the United States, the Washington Post revealed. The Trump administration is citing accusations of fraudulent birth certificates given by midwives and physicians in the region during the 1950s through 1990s. Some individuals are being sent to detention centers. Others are having their passports confiscated.  

After the news was made public, the State of Department issued statistics claiming, “passport denials were at the lowest level in years.”  

Additional Readings: 

—Juliet Peña

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BORDER FACTS: Separating Rhetoric from Reality The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is a leading research and advocacy organization advancing human rights and social justice in the Americas. WOLA's Migration & Border Security program monitors the current security situation on the U.S.-Mexico border and the impact of security policies on the migrant population.

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