Welcome to IRTF’s February 2024 newsletter on Migrant Justice and the current situation at the US-Mexico border. After you’ve looked through the articles, we hope you can take a few minutes to see the TAKE ACTION items at the bottom.
In this newsletter, please read about
(1) Necropolitics, the Rationale of US Immigration Policy
(2) Border Crossings in January Fell by Half
(3) ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends
(4) At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border
(5) How to Understand Regional Migration in an Election Year
(6) Texas Builds Military Base on the Border, as Razor Wire, Legal Battles, and Tragedy
(7) Untold Accountability for “Gross Violations of Human Rights” at Open-Air Detention Sites at US-Mexico Border
(8) Book Recommendations
TAKE ACTION NOW
Here is what you can do to take action this week in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)
A) Stop Using Asylum as Bargaining Tool
B) Protect Mauritanians Here in Ohio
C) End the Monroe Doctrine
D) Get Connected: NEO Friends of Immigrants
E) Volunteers Needed: call for artists, writers for Ohio Migration Anthology
F) Volunteers Needed: database help for migrants who were deported
(1) Necropolitics, the Rationale of US Immigration Policy
Necropolitics, the concept coined by Achille Mbembe, explains the U.S. immigration policy's racialized exclusion through decades of deadly measures. Described as the “politics of death,” it involves deterring migration through border externalization and creating high risks. The “Squid Game: Migration” employs direct and indirect means of death, impacting those seeking safety. Survivors face being labeled “economic migrants,” ignoring the systemic repression and poverty driving migration. The absence of safe channels reveals a policy focused on deterrence rather than acknowledging human dignity or addressing imperialistic roots.
Sources
https://criticallegalthinking.com/2020/03/02/achille-mbembe-necropolitics/
https://www.dukeupress.edu/necropolitics
(2) Border Crossings in January Fell by Half
Migrant encounters totaled 176,205 in January after topping 300,000 for the first time in December.
According to the AP, arrests for “illegal” crossings on the U.S. border with Mexico fell by half in January from record highs in December to the third lowest month of Joe Biden’s presidency. Seasonal declines and heightened enforcement by the U.S. and its allies led to the sharp decline, said Troy Miller, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. authorities have repeatedly praised Mexico for a crackdown launched in late December.
Border Patrol arrests totaled 124,220 in January, down 50% from 249,735 in December, the highest monthly tally on record. Arrests of Venezuelans plunged 91% to 4,422 from 46,920 in December.
Arrests in these Border Patrol sectors were down significantly in January 2024:
Tucson: 50,565 arrests, down 37% from December
Del Rio: down 76% (this sector is the focus of Gov Abbott’s state-led initiative Operation Lone Star)
Rio Grande Valley: arrests dropped 60% to 7,340, the lowest since July 2020.
When including migrants who were allowed to enter the United States under new or expanded legal pathways, migrant encounters totaled 176,205 in January after topping 300,000 for the first time in December.
Source
(3) ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends
The U.S. government’s COVID-19 public health emergency order expired on May 11, 2023 — this includes the Title 42 order that has expelled over 2.5 million migrants from the US-Mexico border. With the end of Title 42, ICE started to ramp up of expedited removal deportations under Title 8 in June 2023.
Over the last 12 months, there have been 8,148 ICE Air flights; 1,529 of those have been removal flights.
Since the Biden Administration took office there have been:
- A total of 22,535 ICE Air Flights
- 4,019 Removal Flights
ICE Air Flights
Over the last 12 months, there have been 8,148 ICE Air flights; 1,529 of those have been removal flights. With an estimated average of 100 passengers per flight, this means that over the past 12 months, as many as 152,900 people could have been returned to Latin America, the Caribbean and a small number to Africa by air by the U.S.
Removal Flights, Lateral Flights, Domestic Shuffles:
In January 2024, there were 639 ICE Air flights, utilizing 30 different planes operated by 5 different charter carriers (IAero aka Swift, World Atlantic, GlobalX, Eastern, and OMNI); this is up 76 from December, and slightly below the prior 6 month average (656) by 17. Border Patrol encounters at the southern border were up in December by 31% from 191,112 in November to 249,785 in December.
Shuffle flights:
Shuffle flights increased by 66. December was the lowest month in 2023 for shuffle flights. Shuffle flights are domestic flights transporting migrants from either from one processing center along the border to another, or from one detention center to another. Shuffle flights include the lateral flights, listed below.
Lateral flights:
Lateral flights in January increased by 12, from 25 in December to 37 in January. January was the highest month for laterals over the last 7 months. Tucson originated the most lateral flights with 32, El Paso had 4 and San Diego had 1. Laredo received 18 laterals, McAllen (15) and El Paso (4).
Removal flights:
In January 2024, removal flights increased very slightly from 130 in December to 132 in January. The Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala (53), Honduras (37), and El Salvador (11) consisted of 78% of all removal flights in January. During December, encounters of migrants from Northern Triangle countries were 61% of people from Latin America. In January, the estimated number of people returned to Northern Triangle countries represented just 17% of the December encounters from those countries. This is unusually low; the more typical range is from 20%-24%.
Removal flights are a mix of migrants being sent back to their home countries under Title 8 (“inadmissables”), and deportations.
Detention
Migrants in detention increased by 1,367 to 38,498 in January.
Countries:
Venezuela
OCT = 3 flights
NOV = 3 flights
DEC = 5 flights
JAN = 4 flights
There have been a total of 15 deportation flights to Venezuela since they resumed 4 months ago in October. Deporting is estimated at 1,800 people which is not even 1% of the encounters for the last 4 months of September - December of almost 200,000.
Honduras
AUG = 51 flights
SEP = 44 flights
OCT = 34 flights
NOV = 40 flights
DEC = 40 flights
JAN = 37 flights
Border encounters on Hondurans increased in January by 2,078 to 20,947. But ICE returned fewer Hondurans by air in January (3,180) than in December (3,878). Mexico had 2 deportation flights to Honduras returning 143 people in addition to 60 people by land.
Guatemala
AUG = 52 flights
SEP = 45 flights
OCT = 47 flights
NOV = 57 flights (a 35-month high record)
DEC = 50 flights
JAN = 53 flights
Ecuador
AUG = 8 flights
SEP = 9
OCT = 6
NOV = 4
DEC = 3
JAN = 5
Colombia
AUG = 7 flights
SEP = 5
OCT = 5
NOV = 5
DEC = 4
JAN = 6
El Salvador
AUG = 9 flights
SEP = 10
OCT = 20
NOV = 14
DEC = 9
JAN = 11
Other destinations:
Dominican Republic:
AUG = 4 flights
SEP = 2
OCT = 2
NOV = 2
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
Peru:
AUG = 11 flights
SEP = 4
OCT = 4
NOV = 3
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
Haiti:
AUG = 2 flights
SEP = 1
OCT = 1
NOV = 1
DEC = 1
JAN = 1
Brazil:
AUG = 0 flights
SEP = 1
OCT = 1
NOV = 1
DEC = 1
JAN = 1
Mexico
The United States has resumed deporting Mexicans on flights that carry them far from the southern border. This is mainly to discourage them from repeatedly trying to cross the border into the US. The first flight was from San Antonio to Morelia, a city in central Mexico hundreds of miles away from the nearest border crossing, and took off carrying more than 100 Mexicans, according to two US officials. This flight was the first of its kind in two years since the US authorities mainly deport over land near the border. But since the number of Mexicans crossing the border into the United States has increased drastically the US authorities started to find more forceful ways to discourage people from making the trip to the border.
Source: Witness At the Border
(4) At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border
This is a space where we share current incidents from the US southern border to show that these issues that we write about do, in fact, immediately affect people at the border and in detention, and the horrible things many migrants have to experience while seeking refuge in the U.S.
Feb 7 - Congress attempts to undermine asylum protections, posing increased risks to migrants. A migrant recently died in the Tijuana River, marking the third death since Oct. 11. Advocacy groups, including the American Friends Service Committee, highlight concerns about hazardous conditions at the border and call for President Biden to protect the asylum process.
Feb 16 - A 24-year-old man from Jamaica died of hypothermia just south of the border in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. “He died within an eighth of a mile of jackets and blankets and mittens and water left out by Border Kindness as part of their humanitarian aid mission,” tweeted journalist Wendy Fry.
Feb 23 - CBP reported that a tractor-trailer driver detained at a Laredo, Texas checkpoint died in his holding cell on February 17. While the agency’s account points to a possible suicide, “the video recording system at the Border Patrol checkpoint was not fully functioning at the time of the incident.”
Feb 23 - The death toll is now three from a February 15 armed attack on two vehicles carrying migrants in rural Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona border. The victims are a child from Ecuador and two adult women, likely from Peru and Honduras. Several others were injured.
SOURCES
- Another migrant dies near open-air detention sites in San Ysidro | American Friends Service Committee (afsc.org)
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Possible executive action on asylum, Texas crackdown, CBP accountability issues - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Possible executive action on asylum, Texas crackdown, CBP accountability issues - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Possible executive action on asylum, Texas crackdown, CBP accountability issues - WOLA
Want to find out more about the conditions at the southern US border? Sign up for the weekly Border Update from WOLA. https://www.wola.org/tag/weekly-border-update/
(5) How to Understand Regional Migration in an Election Year
Maureen Meyer, the vice-president for programs at WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America) and co-founder of WOLA’s migration and border work was joined by Mexico Program Director Stephanie Brewer whose work on defense of human rights and demilitarization in Mexico has focused on the rights of migrants and had a conversation on the Latin America Today podcast about understanding migration in an election year. This episode highlighted some of the main migration trends and issues that we need to pay attention to this year during the election.
Brewer and Meyer discussed how deterrence efforts won’t reduce migration as long as the reasons for people leaving their home countries remains unaddressed. Policies that reduce the number of migrants will only force people into more danger and help to fuel organized crime. Brewer said “The question is not, are people going to migrate? The question is, where, how, and with who?” Maintaining consistent and reliable legal pathways is more important than ever, and the ongoing attacks on these pathways harmful and counterproductive. The idea of a one-size-fits-all solution for the variety of populations currently migrating does not work and the focus shouldn’t be on ineffective policies of deterrence and enforcement. Migration is a long term issue that needs more attention and is more complicated than the little information that is available from political campaigns.
Organized crime is a huge factor in regional migration – both as a cause for migration and a promoter. Migration policies often fail to address how official corruption and impunity enable these systems. Brewer discusses that during her trip to Arizona’s southern border in December 2023, the vast majority of migrants she spoke to were Mexican, and among them, the vast majority cited violence and organized crime as the driving factor. Mexican families have been the majority nationality coming to the US-Mexico border seeking asylum.
Migration is a regional issue, NOT just a US issue, as people are seeking asylum and integration in many different countries. For instance, Mexico received 140,000 asylum applications in 2023. Many people who are coming to the US-Mexico border have tried to resettle elsewhere first, making integration efforts even more important.
Source: https://www.wola.org/analysis/understanding-regional-migration-in-an-election-year/
https://immigrationforum.org/article/defending-borders-defending-democracies-act-bill-summary/
(6) Texas Builds Military Base on the Border, as Razor Wire, Legal Battles, and Tragedy Unfold
A new Texas state law—SB4, which had been set to go into effect on March 5 until a federal court judge ordered a preliminary injunction on February 29—would make unauthorized border crossings a state crime punishable by prison or immediate removal to Mexico. This means that asylum seekers could be imprisoned or made to return to Mexico if Texas security forces—not federal—encounter them first. Rights defenders worry that it could also lead Texas law enforcement agents throughout the state to commit racial profiling: demanding documentation from those they suspect of having crossed improperly, and arresting those who cannot produce it.
Meanwhile, Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton (R), is seeking to revoke the license of a 47-year-old Catholic non-profit migrant shelter in El Paso. He accuses Annunciation House of “alien harboring and human smuggling,” even though the Catholic shelter works directly with Border Patrol and El Paso’s city government to receive asylum seekers released from federal custody, helping migrants avoid being left on the city’s streets, and helping them arrange travel to destinations in the U.S. interior. Texas nonprofits and political leaders are rallying around the shelter in a series of public statements.
On February 16 Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott (R), announced the construction of an 80-acre state National Guard forward operating base to house 1800-2300 soldiers. It would be located in Eagle Pass, not far from Shelby Park, the recreation area along the Rio Grande River that Texas has seized, prohibiting even most Border Patrol agents from entering.
Here is a recent timeline of what’s going on at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, TX:
- Texas initially blocked the Border Patrol's placement of surveillance equipment and denied access to several border miles, fortifying the area with razor wire and fencing.
- After the drowning tragedy, Texas National Guard members, following orders, prevented Border Patrol access to Shelby Park during emergency situations, hindering rescue efforts.
- Texas later allowed limited Border Patrol access to the Shelby Park area but continued restrictions and questioning of agents.
- The Supreme Court intervened, allowing Border Patrol to remove razor wire, prompting Texas' governor to vow resistance.
- The Department of Homeland Security demanded Texas fully reopen the area, citing legal rights acquired in 2008, leading to continued installation of anti-climb fencing and razor wire by the Texas National Guard.
- Texas accused President Biden of undermining border security and wasting taxpayer dollars.
- Multiple deadlines were set for Texas to comply, with the DHS threatening Department of Justice involvement.
- Attorneys general from over two dozen states expressed support for Texas' border security efforts, emphasizing the importance of upholding federal statutory law.
The critical examination reveals a complex and contentious situation, where both Texas and federal authorities are entangled in legal, political, and humanitarian concerns. The deadlock persists, with each side asserting its position, contributing to a volatile and unresolved border situation.
Sources
(7) Accountability for “Gross Violations of Human Rights” at Open-Air Detention Sites at US-Mexico Border
Seven immigrant rights organizations lodged an urgent federal complaint against the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and its Customs and Border Protection for violating their own custody standards for asylum seekers being held in several open-air detention sites along the US-Mexico border in California. The 88-page complaint was filed by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), and National Immigration Law Center (NILC) on behalf of Al Otro Lado, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Border Kindness, and Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC). This is the second federal complaint filed against the CRCL for violations of human rights for its practices at open-air detention sites, following a complaint from SBCC on May 13, 2023. Following the federal complaints there was at least one person who tragically died while trapped in an open-air detention site.
(8) Book Recommendations
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis (2024)
Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the Criminal Alien (2024)
In Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer for The New Yorker, connects current day migration patterns from Latin America, particularly Central America, to a century of US meddling and intervention in the region. The Reagan policies of the 1980s, for instance, led to detention, torture, and murder of political dissidents in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Then in the US, children of refugees fleeing the violence started their own gang associations in places like L.A. to hold their own against other latinx youth populations. After deportation, gang members took their associations back to El Salvador and Honduras; migrants from those countries now cite the MS-13 gang as primary factor in fleeing their homelands. The response at the US border? Harsh diversion tactics that have included family separation and placing adults in conditions that resemble concentration camps.
In Welcome the Wretched, law professor Cesar Cuauhtémoc García Hernández examines how U.S. citizenship laws have neglected the “complexities and contradictions” of individual migrants and are based on a “romanticized view of migrants…[as uniformly] morally upstanding, self-reliant, up-by-the-bootstraps” individuals. There is a large contradiction between federal immigration law and criminal law. Anyone can seek asylum in the U.S. regardless of how that person arrives on US soil, but federal law does not protect such individuals from prosecution. There has been a drastic increase in the criminalization of migrants since the creation of DHS (Dept of Homeland Security) during the Bush II administration. Killing the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and moving everything immigration-related into DHS (a militarized policing agency) led to drastic changes in immigration policies, as well as “overblown rhetoric” by influencers and politicians who stir up false narratives of migrants (and immigrants and refugees) posing a risk to US national security.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jonathan-blitzer/everyone-who-is-gone-is-here/
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cesar-cuauhtemoc-garcia-hernandez/welcome-wretched/
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TAKE ACTION NOW
Now that you are up to date on some of the issues at and around the southern border of the U.S., here are some quick things you can do this week to take action in solidarity with migrants and their families.
A) STOP USING ASYLUM AS A BARGAINING TOOL
The White House is currently trying to destroy asylum in exchange for sending billions to Ukraine, Israel, and ICE & CBP. This proposal is extreme, and would risk the lives of migrants and their families fleeing danger. This would be especially disastrous for Haitian asylum seekers. Tell your members of Congress that our government should fund solutions that uphold the humanity and dignity of migrants and protect asylum.
TAKE ACTION
Click here or here to send a message to your US senators and congressperson.
B) PROTECT MAURITANIANS here in Ohio
Migrants from Mauritania are concentrated most in Ohio. Those who’ve been unjustly deported are often the focus of the “return” movement, to bring back those who deported, especially those deported back to danger. Ohio Immigrant Alliance has been successful in getting bipartisan companion bills in both the US House (HR 7034) and Senate (S 3618) with the support of legislators Senator Sherrod Brown.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to learn more about the bipartisan TPS for Mauritania Act of 2024, aiming to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Mauritanians in the U.S. for 18 months due to ongoing slavery and terrorism in Mauritania. Urge your senators and congresspersons to add their names to these bills as co-sponsors.
C) END THE MONROE DOCTRINE
H.Res.943 calls for the annulment of the Monroe Doctrine and the development of a New Good Neighbor policy in order to foster improved relations and deeper, more effective cooperation between the United States and our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. The resolution was introduced 12/19/2023 by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY) and intial co-sponsors: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) Jesus Chuy Garcia (IL), Delia Ramirez (IL), Greg Casar (TX).
TAKE ACTION
Contact your US representative. Ask for the foreign policy legislative aide. Tell them about the resolution and ask the congressperson to sign as a co-sponsor.
D) GET CONNECTED – NEO Friends of Immigrants
NEO Friends of Immigrants supports migrants and refugees locally in NE Ohio. Join us to learn about various initiatives in defense and support of migrants here in NE Ohio and updates on what’s happening at the US/Mexico Border and immigration detention.
Next meeting: Tue, March 5, 7pm via Zoom. In addition to updates from committees, each month features a guest speaker. On March 5, we’ll hear from economics professor Dr. Rosemarie Emanuele from Ursuline College, who will provide an analysis of how immigration impacts the U.S. and local economies.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to join the NEO Friends of Immigrants meeting on Tue., March 5, 2024
E) VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Call for artists, writers
Ohio Immigrant Alliance is looking for artists who may want to see their work on the cover of forthcoming publications. We are also looking for a project manager. This is an unpaid position but a great opportunity to gain hands on experience with book publication and marketing and build your resume.
If you are an artist interested in seeing your work on the cover of a future OHIA publication, please email ltramonte@ohioimmigrant.org with some information and examples. If selected, we will pay you a small fee for licensing your work.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to learn more about Ohio Migration Anthology, Vol. 3 and how you can help.
F) VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Database help for migrants who were deported
#ReuniteUS legal team
Ohio Immigrant Alliance has an urgent need to assist folks who were deported and want to explore paths to come home. We are creating a team of volunteers who can track down case documents, interview immigrants, and potentially prepare parole letters or other applications for review by a lawyer. We also need someone with database expertise to help us use or create a secure case management tool. We are looking for someone to play a leadership role in organizing this group, and people who want to be on the team. Time commitment is at your discretion.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to volunteer with Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
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Thank you for reading IRTF’s Migrant Justice Newsletter!
Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog .
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