US and Mexico enter deal to accept select immigrants ahead of Title 42 expiration

Anna Giaritelli

May 03, 11:28 AM May 03, 11:28 AM

The United States and Mexico have reached a new agreement aimed at bolstering security and immigration processes as arrests at the border tick up just days before the Border Patrol will lose its ability to immediately send people back to Mexico.

Biden administration officials reached the new deal with Mexican officials during a visit to Mexico City this week. The plan is meant to stem some of the irregular migration through the region by opening up new legal pathways that deter people from entering the U.S. without authorization between the ports of entry.

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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the White House's Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall confirmed that Mexico will accept deported illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — a move that Mexico had refused to make during most of the pandemic.

In addition, the U.S. will grant admission and work permits to 100,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who apply through the family reunification parole process. Immigrants do not need to seek asylum to be allowed into the U.S.

Both countries agreed to crack down on smugglers and human traffickers, particularly in Panama's Darien Gap jungle, where immigrants, including Haitians and Venezuelans, pay cartels to lead them through the dangerous journey in order to get out of South America and into Central America.

The new actions come a day after the Pentagon confirmed that it would send in 1,500 active-duty troops to do non-law enforcement jobs at the border and free up Border Patrol to attend to the border, not menial tasks.

Last week, the Biden administration announced that the U.S. had entered into agreements to open regional processing centers in several countries that immigrants most often travel through to get to the U.S. Its first processing centers were set up in Colombia and Guatemala.

"Individuals from the region will be able to make an appointment on their phone to visit the nearest [regional processing center] before traveling, receive an interview with immigration specialists, and if eligible, be processed rapidly for lawful pathways to the United States, Canada, and Spain," according to a government fact sheet that outlined the policy changes.

But Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted the new centers outside the U.S. would only be capable of processing up to 6,000 people a month — roughly the number of immigrants arrested attempting to enter the U.S. illegally every day in the last two years.

Photos show mass illegal crossing of 1,000 immigrants at El Paso border on Wednesday

Anna Giaritelli

March 30, 01:14 PM March 30, 01:14 PM

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 1,000 immigrants surged across the U.S.-Mexico border into El Paso in a mass illegal crossing that unfolded in a matter of hours Wednesday afternoon.

Photos obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner Wednesday evening showed large groups of immigrants running from the border into El Paso as others stood around on the U.S. side of the border after they illegally crossed and surrendered to Border Patrol agents.

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Border Patrol agents were called in to organize the groups. One picture taken by federal law enforcement on the scene showed a group of mostly young men seated on the ground, smiling.

The regional chief of Border Patrol operations in El Paso, Anthony Good, said that more than 1,000 people were taken into custody in this one incident, according to a statement issued late Wednesday. A picture that Good shared on Twitter showed agents interacting with young children in the group.

In the distance, agents can be seen corralling people into smaller groups as more people continued to cross the border in the background and walk over to the staging area east of Ascarate Park, roughly 10 miles outside downtown El Paso.

Good said the group was primarily Venezuelan. Under a Biden administration policy put forth in January, Venezuelans are to seek admission through a government phone app, and those who cross illegally will be returned to Mexico.

The U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez said immigrants had been wrongly informed that they could enter the United States, which prompted a rush of people in a short period of time.

"The rumors about the opening of the border after the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez are completely false. Law enforcement policies and security measures to restrict documentless access to the U.S. remain in effect," the U.S. Consulate wrote in a statement. "The border is closed to irregular migration!"

On Monday, 38 people died in a fire at the Mexican government's immigrant detention facility in Juarez. Men detained inside were killed when guards and staff rushed out and left them locked in the cells.

The mass crossing is the latest of mass entry attempts allegedly caused by a false rumor that circulated in Juarez. It was not clear if the Mexican cartels that facilitate human smuggling at the border were involved in the circulation of the rumor.

In mid-March, immigrants in Juarez rushed across an international bridge, fueled by a rumor of a free pass into the U.S. and frustrations over a new Biden administration phone app meant to deter illegal crossings between the ports of entry.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district includes part of West Texas’s El Paso region, told the Washington Examiner at the time that immigrants in Juarez were told by unspecific sources a “day of the migrant” celebration meant they would be allowed to enter the U.S. freely.