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Welcome to IRTF’s June 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. President Biden Announces New Actions to Secure the Border. Critics point to its illegality
2. ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends
3. Child Migration in Darien Gap
4. At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border
5. Mind the Darién Gap, Migration Bottleneck of the Americas
6. Immigration Court: unjust denials call for structural realignment, not further restrictions
7. Immigration is the demographic savior too many refuse to acknowledge
TAKE ACTION NOW
Here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)
A) Support LGBTQ+ Migrants
B) Oppose Border Closures
C) Support Migrants in Detention
D) Root Causes: Cut US Militarism in Latin America
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1- President Biden Announces New Action to Secure Border. Critics point to its illegality
On June 4, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new plans to “secure our border.” The executive actions will, according to the White House:
-Bar Migrants Who Cross the Southern Border Unlawfully From Receiving Asylum
-Strengthen the Asylum Screening Process
-Launch a Recent Arrivals docket to more quickly resolve a portion of immigration cases for migrants who attempt to cross between ports of entry at the Southern border
-Revoke visas of CEOs and government officials who profit from migrants coming to the U.S. unlawfully
-Expand Efforts to Dismantle Human Smuggling and Support Immigration Prosecutions
-Enhance Immigration Enforcement
-Seize Fentanyl at our Border
The executive action calls on U.S. authorities to deport asylum seekers from U.S. soil without affording them a chance to seek protection, making exceptions for unaccompanied children, severe trafficking victims, and those who can prove a very high threshold of fear of return. This action is in clear violation of the Refugee Act of 1980, a law that placed the United States in compliance with the Refugee Convention of 1951, which emerged after World War II when nations pledged never to repeat that era’s tragic turn-backs of people fleeing extermination campaigns.
In its analysis and critique of the executive actions, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) explains that the “asylum shutdown” will deny, in most cases, the right to seek asylum for migrants apprehended on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico. It will remain in effect until two weeks after Border Patrol’s weekly average of migrant apprehensions drops below 1,500 per day. That hasn’t happened since July 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is over 3,500 daily right now.
Later the same day, the ACLU announced plans to challenge the asylum ban part of the executive actions with a lawsuit. “We need solutions to address the challenges at the border, but the administration’s planned executive actions will put thousands of lives at risk,” said Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU. In a press statement, the ACLU said: “It would also rush vulnerable people through already fast-tracked deportation proceedings, sending people in need of protection to their deaths.” On June 12, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (El Paso) and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES (in San Antonio).
Migrant justice advocates point out that such strict measures will not deter migration. Solutions must address the reasons why people migrate, the response from governments in the region, and the shortcomings and lack of resources in the U.S. immigration system. Needed instead is expansion of the adjudication capacity of a system that today has over 4,500 immigration cases per judge. It means vastly expanding the ability to process asylum seekers who arrive at ports of entry, a function that does not need to be filled by armed, uniformed law-enforcement officers.
Sources
https://www.wola.org/analysis/futility-of-shutting-down-asylum-by-executive-action-us-mexico-border/
2- 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, the government started to ramp up Title 8 expedited removal deportations in June 2023.
Since the Biden Administration took office there have been:
· A total of 25,183 ICE Air Flights
· 4,568 Removal Flights
Since the end of Title-42 in May 2023:
· A total of 7,890 ICE Air Flights
· 1,583 Removal Flights
ICE Air Flights
The number of observed removal flights to ten different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean continues. Over the last 12 months, there have been 7,890 ICE Air flights; 1,583 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 158,300 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 May 2024, there were 739 ICE Air flights, utilizing 21 different planes operated by 5 different charter carriers (World Atlantic, GlobalX, Eastern, Gryphon (ATS) and OMNI); this is up 81 from April, and above the prior 6 month average (618) by 121. Border Patrol encounters at the southern border were down by 8,587 (6%) from 137,480 to 128,884.
Lateral flights:
Lateral flights in May increased from 36 in April to 43. It is important to note that in the first 20 days of the month laterals averaged about 1 per weekday, but averaged almost 3 per weekday in the last 10 days.
22 of the laterals originated in Tucson, 10 in El Paso, and 11 in Yuma. The destination of 24 laterals was McAllen and 19 was Laredo.
Shuffle flights:
Shuffle flights of 380 increased by 31 from April and were 69 (22%) over the prior 6-month average and 56 below May 2023.
Detention
People in detention Increased by 1,221 over the past 4 weeks to 35,571 in May.
Removal flights:
In May 2024, removal flights increased from 128 in April to 151. The Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala (47), Honduras (29), and El Salvador (13) were destinations for 59% of all removal flights in May. Adding the 18 flights to Mexico makes it 71% of all deportation flights.
In May, the estimated number of people returned to Northern Triangle countries represented 33% of April encounters from those countries.
Countries:
Venezuela (flights were suspended all of February and did NOT resume in May, after flights paused following an announcement by the US that some sanctions would be reinstated if Venezuela did not agree to allow candidates from the Unitary Party to compete in this year’s elections.)
Flights were suspended all of February after they paused the last week of January.
OCT = 3 flights
NOV = 3
DEC = 5
JAN = 4
FEB = 0
MAR = 0
APR = 0
MAY= 0
Mexico
Flights continued under PRIM (Procedure for the Repatriation to the Interior of Mexico) Program
JAN = 1 (on January, 30 from San Antonio to Morelia, Mexico)
APR = 13 (under PRIM, with 1 every Tuesday and 2 every Thursday)
MAY = 18 (2 flights each Tuesday and Thursday)
Guatemala
ICE Air flights to Guatemala increased by 5 from 42 in April to 47. ICE Air returned 5,526 Guatemalans by air. Mexico operated 3 deportation flights to Guatemala, in total 332 people were returned by air from Mexico.
OCT = 52
NOV = 45
DEC = 47
JAN = 52
FEB = 58
MAR = 51
APR = 42
MAY= 47
Honduras
Flights to Honduras remained at 29 in May. Encounters of Hondurans increased by 743 from 9,463 to 10,200. ICE returned an estimated 1,930 Hondurans by air in May.
OCT = 34 flights
NOV = 40
DEC = 40
JAN = 37
FEB = 29
MAR = 27
Mexico had 1 deportation flight to Honduras returning 41 unaccompanied children on a Marina Military plane. Honduras reported that a total of 795 people were returned from Mexico.
APR = 29
MAY = 29
El Salvador
Flights to El Salvador increased by 3
OCT = 20 flights
NOV = 14
DEC = 9
JAN = 11
FEB = 12
MAR = 10
APR = 10
MAY = 13
Ecuador
Ice Air Flights to Ecuador increased
OCT = 6 flights
NOV = 4
DEC = 3
JAN = 5
FEB = 4
MAR = 6
APR = 11
MAY = 17
Peru
Flights remained unchanged
OCT = 4 flights
NOV = 3
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
FEB = 3
MAR = 1 (the lowest since January 2023)
APR = 3
MAY = 3
Colombia
ICE Air Flights to Colombia increased by 3
OCT = 5 flights
NOV = 5
DEC = 4
JAN = 6
FEB = 7
MAR = 12
APR = 9
MAY = 12
Other destinations:
Dominican Republic:
Flights remained steady at 2 for the last 9 months.
OCT = 2 flights
NOV = 2
DEC = 2
JAN = 2
FEB = 2
MAR = 2
APR = 2
MAY = 2
Brazil:
Flights remained at 1 over the last 9 months.
OCT = 1 flight
NOV = 1
DEC = 1
JAN = 1
FEB = 1
MAR = 1
APR = 1
MAY = 1
Cuba:
Experienced the first return flight since December 2020 on April 24, 2023. Followed by 1 in each of the following months, including May 2024
Sources: Witness At the Border
3 - Child Migration
The number of children migrating through the Darién Gap this year, as of May 15, puts the route on track for a fifth consecutive year of record levels according to UNICEF analysis. In the first four months of 2024 there have been more than 30,000 children on the move through the Darién Gap; this is a 40% increase compared to the same period last year (2023). It is projected that an estimated 160,000 children and adolescents could cross the gap in 2024; this number would require critical humanitarian assistance. Of the 30,000 this year, nearly 2,000 of them were unaccompanied or separated from their families. This number is tripled what it was during the same period in 2023, and the number of children in transit is growing five-times faster than the number of adults in the same area.
Source:
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/child-migration-through-darien-gap-40-cent-so-far-year
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.
May 24 - As Mexico continues stepped-up efforts to make it more difficult for migrants to access the U.S.-Mexico border, Border Report reported that a “caravan” of about 1,000-1,200 migrants arrived in Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, while smaller groupings have been departing Mexico’s southern border-zone city of Tapachula, Chiapas. (Puebla is nearly 600 miles south of the nearest U.S.-Mexico border crossing.)
May 31 - Texas National Guard personnel fired at least one pepper irritant projectile at migrants at the Rio Grande in El Paso.. The migrants, including families with children, were separated from the soldiers by fencing and concertina wire and posed no apparent threat, raising concerns about Texas’s use-of-force guidelines. Texas’s Department of Public Safety has not commented on the incident, which was captured on video from the Ciudad Juárez side.
Border Report mentioned, “An unidentified Venezuelan man said two pepper balls struck him in the neck and side after he crossed the Rio Grande to plead with the soldiers to let families come across the razor wire.” A Venezuelan couple said they “placed a piece of cardboard between two shrubs on the Mexican side of the river to protect their 1-year-old daughter from stray shots.” A photographer stated a guardsman shot at him twice while filming from the Mexican side. Migrants in Ciudad Juárez told EFE that Texas personnel fire at them even “while they sleep,” displaying bruises and unruptured projectiles. They also reported “constant verbal aggressions and the use of laser beams to damage the eyes.”
May 31 - “Last week U.S. authorities expelled 200 migrants who crossed through Gate 40 of the border fence [in El Paso] and handed them over to the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM) in Ciudad Juárez, where they were warned that they would be returned to Chiapas, a state on Mexico’s southern border,” EFE reported.
June 7 - Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens tweeted that the agency has documented more than 300 deaths of migrants on U.S. soil since the 2024 fiscal year began in October, with the hot summer months just beginning.
June 7 -. As May drew to a close, “the El Paso, Texas-Juarez, Mexico area recorded a maximum temperature of 96 degrees,” Border Report reported. “Juarez city officials say several migrants in the past two weeks have come down with heat-related illnesses, including dehydration.” Most of the city’s migrant shelters, which are about 60 percent full right now, force single adults to spend daylight hours off their premises.
SOURCES
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Border Act Fails, Migration Keeps Dropping, Texas Updates - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Asylum executive order, Mexico crackdown, Border Patrol centennial, South America migration - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Asylum executive order, Mexico crackdown, Border Patrol centennial, South America migration - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Biden Administration Asylum Shutdown, Mexico's Asylum Applications Drop - WOLA
- Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Biden Administration Asylum Shutdown, Mexico's Asylum Applications Drop - 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- Mind the DariéGap, Migrant Bottleneck of the Americas
As the only land bridge connecting South and Central America, the Darién Gap, a roadless, 60-mile stretch of rainforest straddling the Colombia-Panama border with remote and treacherous terrain, has become a major route for irregular migration as the only corridor to the United States for desperate asylum seekers traveling on foot.
In 2021, a “perfect storm” of economic insecurity, political upheaval, rising violence, climate change, and region-wide crackdowns on immigration pushed a stunning 133,653 migrants to cross. This figure has continued to double annually, jumping to 248,284 in 2022 and a record 520,085 migrants in 2023—more than 40 times the annual average between 2010 and 2020. As of 2023, around 84 percent of those crossing the gap are from Venezuela, Haiti, and Ecuador, where catastrophic combinations of economic collapse, political dysfunction, and violent crime have forced thousands of families to flee. There has also been an unprecedented surge in extracontinental migrants from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, who travel to South America in the hope of reaching the U.S.-Mexico border via the Darién Gap. According to a November 2023 report by the Crisis Group, an estimated 97 different nationalities crossed through the Darién in the first seven months of 2023, including significant numbers of Chinese migrants and Afghan refugees.
The transit of hundreds of thousands of people through a largely ungoverned zone in an inhospitable tropical habitat has been a recipe for humanitarian and environmental disaster. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 312 migrants have been reported missing or dead on the route between 2015 and 2022, with at least 229 disappearances between January 2021 and September 2023, including 146 in 2022 alone.
The mass movement of migrants is also creating an environmental disaster in one of the largest expanses of intact rainforest in the world--1.4 million acres of protected land within the Darién National Park. The scale of pollution is extreme: on top of corpses and bodily waste, the jungle is now littered with plastic bottles, empty food tins, and dirty diapers, contaminating the soil and water with disease and parasites. As migrant crossings grow at an exponential rate, Darién locals and Panama’s Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) have also expressed fears that “the rough tracks trodden through the jungle by migrants will open the forest up” to unlicensed logging, cattle ranching, and gold mining.
For the three major Indigenous groups who inhabit the Darién—the Emberá, Wounaan, and Gunadule—mass migration has dramatically altered their way of life. Besides the pollution problems, locals are abandoning farming and schooling in favor of bartering their services as “guides” and hosts to migrants in transit; this is a major disruption to their traditional livelihoods. The informal inclusion of locals in migrant-smuggling networks complicates law enforcement strategies, which are already hampered by legal constraints that limit state intervention in protected Indigenous land. Efforts to sever border communities’ linkages to organized crime could now be met with fierce resistance from residents with a vested interest in the continued flow of migrant traffic.
Any effort to police criminal groups and create a safe, legal pathway through or around the Darién therefore requires collaboration with locals, offering them incentives that include the provision—not merely the promise—of public services and alternative sources of income.
Although there have been efforts to alleviate migrants’ suffering and expedite their transit, there have been few direct efforts to address the parallel environmental catastrophe unfolding in lockstep with the humanitarian catastrophe. Progress on environmental conservation depends on weakening border towns’ reliance on migrant smuggling, which has been fueled by the lack of job opportunities, “decent health and education services,” road access, and internet connectivity. Any effort to police criminal groups and create a safe, legal pathway through or around the Darién therefore requires collaboration with locals, offering them incentives that include the provision—not merely the promise—of public services and alternative sources of income.
Source
https://www.csis.org/analysis/mind-darien-gap-migration-bottleneck-americas
6- Immigration Court: Unjust denials call for structural adjustment, not further restrictions
It takes a lot to make the decision to leave the place you were born, but for some people it's the only option. Rather than blocking access to safety earlier in the asylum process, the United States should welcome courageous people seeking protection with open arms.
In May, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance released a new analysis featuring case examples and testimonies from people who sought asylum after leaving Mauritania and other nations, only to be shown the deportation door. "Scarred, Then Barred: US Immigration Laws and Courts Harm Black Mauritanian Refugees" outlines specious reasons why people who meet the definition of a “refugee” under international and U.S. law have been denied protection in the U.S. immigration courts.
-judges’ accusations of “lying” and “fraud” are often based on bias, not evidence.
-they fail to understand a country's political history, language differences, culture, and even government-issued identity documents, and make decisions based on bad (or no) facts.
-migrants often have to present their cases without a legal guide, while the government is represented every time.
-once a person is deemed “not credible” by an immigration judge, appellate judges defer to that finding, no matter how wrong the reasoning may be.
The report's recommendations were sourced from experts including the Mauritania TPS Working Group, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and more. Read it and share on X here. The individuals featured in this report are good people whose lives and safety matter. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not sent back to the terrors they fled by judges and politicians who have never walked a mile in their shoes.
Source
Ohio Immigrant Alliance
7- Immigration is the demographic savior too many refuse to acknowledge
The U.S. faces the triumvirate of an aging population, the lowest birthrate since the census has kept track and rising federal debt. Renewing America’s commitment to thoughtful immigration policy is precisely the lifeline that Medicare and Social Security so desperately need. While false xenophobic narratives around immigration suggest that our country is full, the reality is that immigration, far from being a drain on resources, would help ensure that Social Security and Medicare remain viable, sustainable programs. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, immigration will help bolster the U.S. economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade and generate approximately $1 trillion in federal tax dollars. Addressing labor shortages, which have resulted in 8.5 million vacancies, would also bolster the tax base that funds Medicare and Social Security. In fact, immigrants are 80 percent more likely to start businesses, thereby creating jobs, spurring innovation and strengthening our broader economy. Beyond funding for the social safety net, the U.S. also must address the inadequate supply of direct healthcare workers. Immigrant healthcare workers are well positioned to fill these gaps, and in so doing they bring diverse cultural perspectives and language skills that can improve access to care and health outcomes for underserved communities as well. Congress should…seek to expand immigration pathways for direct health care workers. Amid this fiscal reckoning, reforming our immigration system is key to bringing Social Security and Medicare one serious step closer to sustainable solvency. But such immigration reforms will require real leadership rather than the political grandstanding that has become par for the course in Congress. Source
TAKE ACTION NOW Now that you are up to date on the issues at and around the southern border of the U.S., here is what you can do to take action this week in solidarity with migrants and their families.
(A) Support LGBTQ+ Migrants International human rights organizations have documented numerous cases of barriers faced by LGBTQIA2S+* people during the immigration process. Persecution based on sexual identity is grounds to be granted asylum in the United States. Once in the United States, refugees and asylum seekers or asylees may still struggle to find safe housing, secure employment, and receive the necessary medical and mental health support. The Episcopal Church urges that we contact our US senators and congressperson to support policies that protect the rights of LGBTQIA2S+ migrants and provide them with access to essential services. TAKE ACTION Click here to advocate for inclusive asylum and immigration policies. Find resources to educate your community about the challenges faced by LGBTQIA2S+ migrants and provide direct support through housing, transportation, language assistance, job training and employment opportunities.
(B) Oppose Border Closures The Biden-Harris Administration recently issued an executive order to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. Like other recent policy changes, it allows border officers to deny people's asylum claims before they are ever able to see a judge. TAKE ACTION Click here to comment by the July 8 deadline. Remind the White House that our immigration system should be welcoming, dignified, and fair.
(C) Support Migrants in Detention Piero Mendoza is a 19-year old Peruvian law student who was separated from his older sister at the border and sent to a Mississippi jail. Immigration attorney Brian Hoffman (of Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach) is representing Piero, who is depressed. TAKE ACTION Please make time to send a card or brief note. Address it to : Piero Carrasco Mendoza A 241-493-611 Adams County Detention Center PO Box 850 Washington, MS 39190 Questions? Contact brian@ocsilio.org.
(D) Root Causes: Cut US Militarism in Latin America The U.S. military maintains 750 military installations abroad to police and surveil other sovereign nations, and sends military aid, including weapons, bombs, and tanks, to countries around the world. All too often this military aid is used against civilians. Endless money fuels endless war, at the expense of human needs at home and abroad. In FY 2023, less than $2 out of every $5 in federal discretionary spending was available to fund positive investments in people and communities, the rest went towards military programs. As we work to realign our national priorities, ending the Unfunded Priorities List (UPL), which allows additional, unchecked spending on weapons and war, is a critical first step. TAKE ACTION Click here to ask that your congressperson support all efforts in the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act process to end the requirement that the Department of Defense provide annual, Unfunded Priorities Lists (UPL) to Congress, which request funding for wish lists, over and above what is inside the President’s budget request.
—------------- 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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