Mexico's Turn: The Border Mess Is About to Get Much Worse

Townhall Media/Julio Rosas

The crisis at our southern borders is about to get much worse. The Mexican government has stopped accepting non-Mexican families as refugees which has led to an increase in illegal aliens being held in detention.

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In the busiest sector of the border along the Rio Grande, there were 6,671 immigrants being held in facilities meant for 965 people. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been releasing illegal alien families into the United States without court dates, trying to shuffle people out of the system as fast as possible. But as fast as they release people, the facilities fill up just as quickly.

It’s gotten so bad that ICE officers have been pulled from their regular duties of interdicting drugs and stopping human trafficking in order to process illegals more quickly to release them into the United States.

NBC News:

To deal with the overcrowding and attempt to make more room, border patrol has been releasing undocumented migrant families into the United States without court dates or any way to track their whereabouts. More than 50,000 migrants were recently released without court dates and given a date to report to an ICE field office within 60 days, but approximately 15,000 did not show, the DHS officials said.

Now, in an unprecedented move, an agency usually tasked with detention, enforcement and removal of undocumented immigrants, ICE officers will be performing health screenings, offering Covid vaccines, telling immigrants their legal rights and connecting them with non-governmental organizations that can help them, the officials said. Asylum officers will continue making initial determinations for asylum-seeking migrants, either at the ICE facilities or by phone, they said.

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The 15,000 no-shows only include those whose 60-day window to report has expired — only a fraction of the 50,000 illegals released.

The Biden administration was prepared to lift the pandemic emergency health order known as Title 42 at the end of July. But the recent surge in infections has scotched that idea. It’s the Mexican government’s response to Title 42 that has indeed changed.

Related: Justice Department Sues Texas Over Abbott’s Attempts to Get Control of Border Surge

Title 42 allowed the government to immediately deport families and individuals in most circumstances. The Mexican government’s decision not to accept non-Mexican families means the U.S. must either immediately deport them or find a way to house them.

MyRGV:

Changes made on the Mexican side, including the nationality or age of the migrant they’re willing to accept from the U.S., has directly affected the number of migrants who stay in U.S. custody.

In February, the Mexican state of Tamaulipas refused to take some families with children of a certain age which led to overcrowding in CBP facilities. As a direct result, families started to get released on the U.S. side, although some were sent to other Border Patrol sectors where the Mexican bordering state allowed for their expulsion.

“Under Title 42, DHS continues to expel the majority of single adults, and, to the extent possible, families encountered at the Southwest Border,” DHS further wrote in the statement.

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There’s a huge loophole in Title 42 that’s contributing to the chaos at the border.

Mexican families are still subject to Title 42 expulsions. Therefore, DHS can “to the extent possible” expel families encountered at the southwest border, while families from noncontiguous countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras could be exempted from the expulsions, as the Mexican federal sources indicated.

It appears that the Biden administration is going to hold off lifting Title 42 restrictions for the time being. But when he does lift them, the administration will come under enormous pressure to adopt a more “humane” approach to border security and let them all in.

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