Developments
Two San Diego hospitals, Scripps Mercy Hospital and UC San Diego Medical Center, report 993 “severe falls” from the border wall so far this year (Scripps through August, UCSD through September). That is up 58 percent over falls recorded in all of 2023, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Pedro Rios of the American Friends Service Committee hypothesized that Mexico’s placement of troops in an area east of the city with little or no fencing might be leading more migrants, including those seeking to turn themselves in to authorities, to attempt to scale the wall.
- Paul Sisson, “Hospitals Report 58 Percent Increase in Border Wall Trauma Falls” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 20, 2024).
A Mother Jones investigation of the U.S. government’s search-and-rescue system for preventing the deaths of migrants in distress found “a scattershot emergency response system with little accountability, in which responsibility for saving migrants’ lives is divided among Border Patrol agents whose primary duty is law enforcement, not search and rescue; overtaxed county search and rescue teams; and unpaid volunteers from humanitarian groups.”
- Sarah Tory, How a Compromised Search and Rescue System in the Borderlands Leaves Migrants in Peril (Mother Jones, Thursday, October 17, 2024).
Another in a series of “caravans,” combining migrants from many nationalities, departed Mexico’s southern border-zone city of Tapachula, Chiapas on Sunday. Some participants in the large group said that they felt a need to get to U.S. soil before a transfer of power in the United States, as Republican candidate Donald Trump, who is tied in polls, has pledged to eliminate the use of the CBP One smartphone app and other legal migration pathways.
Mexico’s migration agency (National Migration Institute, INM) sought to discourage the movement by offering bus rides from Tapachula to Chiapas’s capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, about 150 miles away. “They told us that they are going to give us a 10-day permit there so that we can wait for a CBP One appointment and they will take us to Tuxtla Gutiérrez,” a Honduran man told EFE.
- “A Group of 2,000 Migrants in Southern Mexico Depart for the Us Weeks Before Election” (Associated Press, Associated Press, October 20, 2024).
- “Miles de Migrantes Venezolanos Arman una Caravana Hacia ee.uu.” (EFE, October 20, 2024).
El Paso, Texas municipal officials told Border Report that they are monitoring the caravans moving through Mexico’s far south, although “we don’t know what part of the border they’re going.”
- Julian Resendiz, “El Paso Prepares for Possible Arrival of Migrant Caravans” (Border Report, October 18, 2024).
The Mexican government’s secretaries of interior, foreign affairs, army, and navy met on October 18 “to review the current situation of irregular migration crossing the country, and the repatriation of Mexicans,” Milenio reported.
- Pedro Dominguez, “Reunion Entre Fuerzas Armadas, Sre y Segob” (Milenio (Mexico), October 18, 2024).
Mexican civil society organizations making up the “Central Border Monitoring Group” denounced that Mexico City authorities have been arranging to bus migrants to states further north, like Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, “without clear information or the delivery of regular transit documents.”
- Jared Laureles, Jessica Xantomila, “Retiran a Migrantes de Cdmx y los Abandonan en Otras Urbes, Acusan” (La Jornada (Mexico), October 20, 2024).
NPR reported on a ballot measure in Arizona, Proposition 314, that—like the highly controversial SB4 in Texas—would make it a violation of state law to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization. Advocates worry that, if the measure passes, local police may profile people they suspect of having crossed illegally, demanding that they “show their papers” anywhere in the state.
- Ximena Bustillo, “Arizona Voters Will Soon Decide if Illegal Border Crossings Should Be a State Crime” (National Public Radio, October 18, 2024).
Home building firms told NBC News that presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plans for a “mass deportation” campaign would decimate their labor force and cripple their industry. “You’d lose so many people that you couldn’t put a crew together to frame a house,” said the CEO of a Texas-based subcontracting firm.
- Jing Feng, Nicole Acevedo, “Trump Vows to Deport Millions. Builders Say It Would Drain Their Crews and Drive Up Home Costs.” (NBC News, October 19, 2024).
Municipal police in Tijuana are offering to have agents inspect northbound vehicles in order to shorten border crossing times at the busy San Ysidro port of entry, Border Report reported.
- Salvador Rivera, “Tijuana Police Offer to Inspect Vehicles at Border to Expedite Crossing Times” (Border Report, October 18, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
A New York Times analysis contended that Donald Trump is “doubling down” on the border and immigration as the issue that can win the election for him, despite poll data showing voters more concerned about economic issues.
- Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Ruth Igielnik, “Trump Thinks the Border Got Him Elected in 2016. He’s Convinced It Will Do So Again.” (The New York Times, October 19, 2024).
Amid Democrats’ rightward pivot on border and immigration issues during the 2024 election cycle, Vox reporter Nicole Narea wrote that if elected, Kamala Harris would probably adopt a “two-pronged” approach, keeping current curbs on asylum and boosting border security while also maintaining alternative legal pathways for migrants.
- Nicole Narea, “How Tough Would a President Kamala Harris Be on Immigrants?” (Vox, October 18, 2024).
“The Mexican government reported 200,289 Venezuelans ‘in an irregular migratory situation’ in the first half of 2024,” EFE reported. That is 215 percent more than during the first half of 2023. According to this estimate, Venezuela is the number-one nationality of undocumented migrants in Mexico, making up over a quarter of the total.
- “Migrantes de Nicaragua, Cuba y Venezuela Quedan en el Limbo en Mexico por Medidas de Ee. Uu.” (EFE, Confidencial (Nicaragua), October 20, 2024).
“Half of the fentanyl coming into the U.S. is seized at the Mariposa Port of Entry” in Nogales, Arizona, CBP’s top official, Troy Miller, told the Arizona Republic. The port, west of downtown with much cargo traffic, is now able to scan about 50 percent of cargo, Miller added.
- Raphael Romero Ruiz, “Cbp Reports Declining Border Crossings and Record Fentanyl Busts in 2024” (The Arizona Republic, October 19, 2024).
Increasing organized crime violence in Mexico’s southern state of Tabasco may be related to the Mexican government’s mass busing of migrants to the state’s capital, Villahermosa, mainly from the U.S. border region, according to an InSight Crime analysis. An already existing conflict between organized crime factions in the state is being exacerbated by “large sums” that can be gained “from extorting vulnerable migrants” being bused there at a rate of about 10,000 people per month.
- Peter Appleby, “Is Mexico Fueling a Gang War by Sending Migrants to Tabasco?” (InsightCrime, October 18, 2024).
On the Right
- Josh Christenson, “Biden Refused to Reinstate Trump-Era Border Policies Because ‘Mexico Doesn’t Want That,’ Speaker Mike Johnson Says” (The New York Post, October 18, 2024).
- Selene Rodriguez, “Fixing the Border Starts With Calling Mexican Cartels Terrorists” (Texas Public Policy Foundation, The Federalist, October 18, 2024).