Letters: Partisan visit not welcome
The city recently hosted a partisan Republican delegation to discuss Title 42 in McAllen. In fact, our South Texas congressional and state delegation along with local officials have been very vocal on this issue. And the city of McAllen and the Rio GrandeValley are only being used for their upcoming elections. A partisan event of this type would only assist in tarnishing the image our beautiful region and its people. Why does the fact of women in America being made second-class citizens not inflame all women of America?
myrgv.comHouse Republicans talk Title 42 behind closed doors
The only thing stopping them, Villalobos said, was Title 42. “(Title 42) has been a good instrument — even though it’s not an immigration policy — to assist us with immigration. Lifting Title 42, we know that there are more than 10,000 people in Reynosa waiting to enter the U.S.,” Villalobos said in Spanish. So Title 42 should be used from that,” Smith echoed a few moments later. Nonetheless, despite the controversy that exists over Title 42, Villalobos said he welcomes lawmakers of all stripes to the border.
myrgv.com‘Confidence is high’: New CBP commissioner visits ahead of eventual end to Title 42 policy
Biden’s administration is facing sharp criticism from both sides of the political aisle over his immigration policies and practices. The Centers for Disease and Control, the department responsible for determining the need to keep Title 42 in place, decided to lift the policy in late May. Courts intervened and delayed it, but the public health policy is, by design, temporary and not an immigration policy. But federal, state and local leaders have expressed concern over its end. We learn from when we make mistakes, and we can admit when we don’t handle something well,” the commissioner said.
myrgv.comWill an Emergency Law Used to Keep Out Migrants Become Permanent?
At the start of the pandemic, the Trump Administration invoked an obscure provision called Title 42 to effectively stop migration. Even as other COVID restrictions are lifted, anti-immigration politicians insist that it remain in place.
newyorker.comCourt ruling extends uneven treatment for asylum-seekers
As the sun set over the Rio Grande, about 120 Cubans, Colombians and Venezuelans who waded through waist-deep water stepped into Border Patrol vehicles, soon to be released in the United States to pursue their immigration cases. Across the border in the Mexican town of Piedras Negras, Honduran families banded together in a section of downtown with cracked sidewalks, narrow streets and few people, unsure where to spend the night because city's only shelter was full. President Joe Biden wanted to end those rules Monday, but a federal judge in Louisiana issued a nationwide injunction that keeps them intact.
news.yahoo.comValley, state leaders welcome halt to border policy’s end
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays out of Louisiana ordered that Title 42 remain in place while a lawsuit led by Arizona and Louisiana goes to court. These states and 22 others argue that by attempting to phase out Title 42 the administration failed to consider the effects of its removal on border states. “I have made my concerns regarding the lifting of Title 42 very clear. Greg Abbott continued his criticism of President Joe Biden’s border policies in his reaction to Friday’s ruling. “We remain vigilant in fighting the lifting of Title 42 expulsions.”
myrgv.comCornyn critical of Biden administration as border policy change looms
Sen. John Cornyn was critical Thursday of the Biden administration’s response, or, in his opinion, lack thereof, pertaining to Title 42, a policy barring migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. and whose implementation is anticipated to end come Monday.
myrgv.comDistrict 15 candidate continues push as he casts runoff ballot during early voting
McALLEN — With early voting in the Democratic primary runoff election fully underway, Ruben Ramirez, a candidate for Texas’ 15th Congressional District, cast his ballot as he continues to appeal to voters. Ramirez, a moderate Democrat, is running in the runoff election against Michelle Vallejo, a progressive. Among their different positions are their views on Medicare-for-All, something that Vallejo supports but Ramirez adamantly opposes. “I am advocating for Medicare-For-All,” Vallejo said Monday. With just a few days left during the early voting period, Ramirez encouraged residents to stop by and get to know him.
myrgv.comEnd asylum bans, not our welcoming tradition
As President Biden takes steps to end Trump-era restrictions on asylum, a slew of state politicians are trying to get us pointing fingers at asylum seekers and new immigrants. Instead, we must recommit to Texas’s welcoming tradition by extending a hand. President Biden’s administration has announced steps to end Title 42, which resulted in rapid expulsions of most people seeking safety at the Southern Border. But they need funds to shelter and provide clothes, diapers and meals to arriving asylum seekers. Together, we can ensure that Texas’s welcoming tradition does not end when asylum restrictions do.
myrgv.comTies that bind: Concertina wire illustrates intertwined public-private partnership on border
Stacks of razor-sharp concertina wire, or c-wire, sat coiled up on a flatbed trailer parked at the entrance of federal property in Mission on Friday — a representation of the governor’s border security partnership with local landowners.
myrgv.comTexas Border Coalition urges Biden to visit region
The Texas Border Coalition this week joined Hildago County Judge F. Richard Cortez in urging President Joe Biden to visit the Texas-Mexico border. Further, the letter says immigration reform “is the key to securing the border and border communities. In addition to a larger, more productive workforce, immigration reform would increase economic growth and tax revenues. The alternative is a continued reliance on an ineffective enforcement-only policy.”TBC has advocated for immigration reform over three decades, including House passage of three immigration reform bills last year, and strengthened border security through improved U.S. Customs and Border Protection manpower and technology. “President Biden, as a public servant in a border community I must implore you to visit our region before the existing (Title 42) Order is suspended,” Cortez wrote.
myrgv.comGov. Greg Abbott says federal government should cover cost of educating undocumented students in Texas public schools
Abbott expanded on comments he made about how he wants to “resurrect” the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which guaranteed that public schools would educate all students regardless of citizenship status.
US quietly expands asylum limits while preparing to end them
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers to deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]
sanmarcosrecord.comUS quietly expands asylum limits while preparing to end them
Officials say the Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers that deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as it publicly says it has been trying to unwind it.
Mexico will take back more Cubans and Nicaraguans expelled by U.S.
The deal is potentially significant because the Mexican government has more latitude to carry out deportation flights to Cuba and Nicaragua, nations whose frosty relations with Washington severely limit the United States’ ability to return their citizens.
washingtonpost.comGov. Greg Abbott redirects $500 million from other agencies to fund border security mission through end of fiscal year
Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Vulnerable position: Violence against migrants rises as officials bicker over border policy
Originally, the CDC announced they would not continue extending the public health policy and migrants would no longer be sent back under it as soon as May 23. “Title 42 has serious and dire human costs,” Julia Neusner, Human Rights First associate attorney, said Wednesday. Information collected from newspapers, surveys conducted by legal partners, and other human rights reports were used to compile the spreadsheet of attacks. Unaccompanied children are not subject to Title 42 expulsions, so the mother tried sending him alone. Human Rights First attempts to educate the public on the effects of U.S. policy on people seeking refuge, but they hope their research reaches those who create policy, as well.
myrgv.comJudge orders Biden administration to send Central American migrants to Mexico rather than their home countries
The Louisiana judge said he’ll hold a hearing in May to decide whether to block the administration from halting Title 42, the Trump-era health order that quickly sends all migrants back to Mexico.
Beto O’Rourke carefully threads needle on border policy as Democrats grapple with the issue
For Democrats, especially in Texas, tackling border issues is difficult on the campaign trail as the party is not in agreement about various policies. O’Rourke has had to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s border policies, while going after Gov. Greg Abbott’s.
Analysis: Abbott’s border initiative is expensive, ineffective and not as tough as it sounds
The results of the state’s $3 billion border security effort don’t match the up-front promises, and Gov. Greg Abbott is flipping the political script with loud opposition to a change in federal border policy.
Gov. Abbott plans to use buses to move migrants away from border to Washington
Boat blockades, container and razor wire at low-water crossings, enhanced vehicle inspections along the border and even bus transportation will take processed and released migrants to Washington D.C. in an effort to alleviate stress on the system in Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott says more apprehensions, drug seizures justify a border wall. Advocates say he's misrepresenting the numbers.
The governor said Texas needs to build a border wall to reduce migrant apprehensions and fentanyl seizures. But immigration and drug treatment experts say Abbott's oversimplifying the issue.
Border arrests jumped 36 percent in May despite Trump emergency crackdown
According to new U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, the number of migrants detained by U.S. authorities at the Mexico border rose 36 percent in May. CBP took 23,118 migrants into custody last month, up from 16,966 in April, the figures show. The Trump administration argues the emergency measures have aided in preventing a wider coronavirus outbreak by limiting the number of detainees held in cramped border cells. Since the implementation of the emergency orders in late March, nearly 43,000 migrants have been subjected to the rapid-expulsion proceedings, according to CBP figures. Trumps emergency restrictions have all but closed the United States to border crossers fleeing persecution, records show.