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Developments

In a February 23 White House meeting with state governors, President Joe Biden confirmed that he is considering executive actions to make asylum harder to obtain at the U.S.-Mexico border, but added that existing laws and budgets leave him with few options.

• Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller, “Biden Tells Governors He’s Eyeing Executive Action on Immigration, Seems ‘Frustrated’ With Lawyers” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 23, 2024).
• Alison Main, Camila Dechalus, Priscilla Alvarez, “Migrant Crisis Looms Over Governors’ Gathering at the White House” (CNN, February 25, 2024).
• Asma Khalid, Tamara Keith, “Biden Is Looking at Options for the Border. But He’s Running Into Legal Issues” (National Public Radio, February 23, 2024).
• Lisa Kashinsky, “‘Biden Needs to Do His Job’: Republican Governors Reject President’s Border Deal Push” (Politico, February 25, 2024).

Migrant rights defense groups and progressive legislators continue to voice outrage about the possible executive actions, which came to light in news reporting on February 21.

• Joey Garrison, Lauren Villagran, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, “President Joe Biden Faces Progressive Backlash as He Mulls Executive Action on Border” (USA Today, February 23, 2024).
• Myah Ward, “Progressive Groups Preemptively Rip Biden Over Immigration Executive Actions” (Politico, February 23, 2024).
• Michael D. Shear, “Biden Tries to Flip the Politics of Immigration” (The New York Times, February 23, 2024).

As of February 25, year-to-date migration through the Darién Gap totaled over 68,400 people, about 22,700 more than the same period in 2023, EFE reported.

• “Mas de 68.400 Migrantes Han Cruzado el Darien en 2024” (EFE, EFE, February 25, 2024).

So far this year, the U.S. government has returned 12,144 Guatemalan citizens to their country on deportation flights.

• Cristobal Veliz, “Migracion Reporta 1 Mil 757 Guatemaltecos Retornados de Estados Unidos Esta Semana” (La Hora (Guatemala), February 23, 2024).

The Texas Newsroom obtained invoices for four flights that Texas’s state government chartered to fly asylum-seeking migrants to New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The total price tag of $845,000 was well over $1,000 per passenger.

• Sergio Martinez-Beltran, “Texas Spent Nearly $1 Million on Four Flights for Migrants, Records Show” (The Texas Newsroom, KUT 90.5, February 23, 2024).

A poll of Venezuelan citizens living in the United States found that more than 65 percent would return to Venezuela if the political opposition were to win this year’s presidential elections, a dim possibility amid rising political repression.

• Andreina Itriago Acosta, Eric Martin, “Regreso de Migrantes de Venezuela Requiere un Cambio Politico, Segun Encuesta” (Bloomberg, February 23, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

Analyses at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times examined why migrant apprehensions are up (though leveling off) at the Arizona and California borders and declining in Texas. “Stepped-up enforcement efforts by the governments of Mexico, Panama and Colombia, and heightened violence by cartels on the Mexican side of the Texas border have likely slowed expected migration into that state,” wrote Andrea Castillo at the LA Times.

• Andrea Castillo, “Migrant Arrests Are Up Along the Border in California and Dropping in Texas. Why?” (The Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2024).
• Nick Miroff, “Fewer Migrants Are Crossing Into Texas. Gov. Abbott Is Claiming Credit.” (The Washington Post, February 23, 2024).
• Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “Arizona Sector Becomes No. 1 Hotspot for Migrant Crossings, Despite Border Walls and Treacherous Terrain” (CBS News, February 24, 2024).

Asylum-seeker arrivals, and resulting Border Patrol releases, into San Diego have increased so rapidly that they have exhausted a county budget for a short-term migrant welcome center. As a result, CBP is leaving migrants outside a bus station.

• Elliot Spagat, “Border Patrol Releases Hundreds of Migrants at a Bus Stop After San Diego Runs Out of Aid Money” (Associated Press, Associated Press, February 23, 2024).

The New Yorker, profiling El Paso’s Annunciation House, and the Arizona Daily Star, profiling Casa Alitas, pointed to the key role that migrant shelters play in receiving asylum seekers released from CBP custody. Shelters are facing a rising wave of rhetorical and legal attacks from right-wing politicians.

• Rachel Monroe, “El Paso’s Saint of the Border Negotiates a New Reality” (The New Yorker, February 23, 2024).
• Tim Steller, “Demonized Ngos Stand Between Tucson and Chaos” (The Arizona Daily Star, February 25, 2024).

The Center for Public Integrity revealed that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which receives and finds sponsors for migrant children who arrive unaccompanied, handled 2,724 reports of missing migrant children in the United States in 2022, many more than in previous years. Federal efforts to locate the missing children are insufficient.

• Karen Rodriguez, Kristian Hernandez, “When Migrant Children Disappear, Many Cases Remain Unsolved” (Center for Public Integrity, February 23, 2024).

In Eagle Pass, Texas, first responders are “overwhelmed and increasingly traumatized” by the frequency with which they rescue migrants—or recover their bodies—from the Rio Grande, NBC News reported. “On some shifts, firefighters with the Eagle Pass Fire Department can spend three to five hours in the water.”

• Alicia Victoria Lozano, Morgan Chesky, “First Responders in a Texas Town Are Struggling to Cope With the Trauma of Recovering Bodies From the Rio Grande” (NBC News, February 25, 2024).

A Rolling Stone feature looked at the impact that the Texas state government’s border security and migration crackdown is having on daily life in Eagle Pass.

• Christopher Hooks, “The Human Toll of Greg Abbott’s War at the Border” (Rolling Stone, February 25, 2024).

In Arizona, younger Democratic voters are voicing frustration at the Biden administration’s rightward turn on border and migration policy, the Washington Post reported.

• Sabrina Rodriguez, “In Arizona, Biden’s Handling of Immigration Fuels Frustration Among Key Voters” (The Washington Post, February 25, 2024).

Congressional Republicans often urge President Biden to revive the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy despite its human rights impact, even though “it’s not clear Mexico’s government would play along,” Joseph Zeballos-Roig wrote at Semafor.

• Joseph Zeballos-Roig, “The Huge Unanswered Question About the Gop’s Favorite Border Policy” (Semafor, February 26, 2024).

Voice of America and Mexico’s Milenio both published articles about Haitian migrants who have decided to settle in Mexico instead of pushing on to the United States.

• “Giving Up on Us, Haitian Migrants Opt for ‘Mexican Dream’” (Voice of America, February 25, 2024).
• Amilcar Salazar Mendez, “Migrantes Haitianos Recaen en el Suelo Mexicano” (Milenio (Mexico), February 25, 2024).

On the Right

• Michael Lee, “Exclusive: Former Ice Director Vows to Make 2024 Elections About Border Security: ‘Country-Ending Crisis’” (Fox News, February 25, 2024).
• Natalie Venegas, “Joe Biden Approaching Treason Over Border Crisis, Texas Lt. Governor Warns” (Newsweek, February 24, 2024).
• Hanna Panreck, “Conservatives Outraged After Axios Reposts Article Claiming Southern Border Is ‘More Fortified’ Than Ever” (Fox News, February 25, 2024).