The border crisis took no time off this Memorial Day weekend as thousands of migrants continued to pour over the southern border.

More than 4,000 migrants illegally crossed the border via the Rio Grande Valley over the course of the long weekend, Fox News has learned.

“There’s no effort to actually secure the border and to figure out who and what’s coming in when you create a chaotic situation like this, and they have created this through their policies,” Scott said.

BORDER PATROL CHIEF ‘EXTREMELY PROUD’ AS AGENTS NAB MULTIPLE SEX OFFENDERS, DRUG HAULS OVER THREE DAYS

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol has encountered 1,219,920 undocumented migrants so far in 2022, and that number appears far from slowing amid the administration’s efforts to end Title 42, a health order that allows the U.S. to turn away undocumented migrants seeking asylum.

The Department of Justice announced it will appeal a decision handed down last week by a federal judge that blocked the administration from ending Title 42, however the DOJ has not officially filed the appeal.

Once Title 42 expires, the Department of Homeland Security predicts up to 18,000 migrants could cross the border daily.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced Friday that agents had nabbed 10 sex offenders, a slew of deadly drugs, and other illegal immigrants wanted for serious crimes in three days.

Fox News’ Caroline Elliott and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Jessica Chasmar is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Jessica.Chasmar@fox.com and on Twitter: @JessicaChasmar.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/4000-illegal-immigrants-border-memorial-day

The post 4,000 illegal immigrants crossed border over Memorial Day weekend in Rio Grande Valley sector alone first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In Biden v. Texas, the attorneys general of Missouri and Texas sued after the Biden administration ended the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

The Department of Homeland Security began the MPP in 2019 under President Donald Trump. It tasks agents with returning illegal immigrants seeking asylum to Mexico as they work their way through the U.S. legal system.

On his first day in office, the Biden administration announced it would no longer carry out the program. The administration argued the policy in question was inhumane, strained the U.S. relationship with Mexico, and created chaos. Texas and Missouri argued the administration’s plan is more chaotic and hurts the American public by releasing thousands of illegal immigrants into U.S. communities.

The federal government argued it needs Mexico’s cooperation to carry out the policy, which ties its hands.

In a news conference after oral arguments, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton rebuffed that claim, pointing out the Trump administration was able to successfully work with Mexico to quickly deport migrants.

“This is a really important case… In my opinion, we’ve all become border states. It affects all of us,” Paxton said.

Since Biden took office, illegal immigration has soared, raising more concerns about the president’s policies. Border Patrol reported more than 2 million encounters with people crossing the southern border illegally in 2021. Those numbers remain elevated this year.

“In total, there were 221,303 encounters along the southwest land border in March, a 33 percent increase compared to February,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported earlier this month. “Of those, 28 percent involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14 percent for FY2014-2019.”

U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled in August that the Biden administration must reinstate the MPP, saying they violated federal law by discontinuing it. In August, the Supreme Court said it would not immediately overturn that order.

“The applicants have failed to show a likelihood of success on the claim that the memorandum rescinding the Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious,” that order read.

But the case was back before the nation’s highest court Tuesday.

During oral arguments, the justices grilled both sides and questioned the public benefit of releasing illegal immigrants into the U.S. and the process used by the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate and release migrants. They also raised concerns about funding, asking what else could be done if DHS does not have the resources to detain migrants and Mexico is hesitant to take them back.

The federal government stressed that it did not have the room to detain the hundreds of thousands of migrants encountered at the border every month.

“So you agree that Congress has expressed a preference for detention when that is available,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked the federal government’s attorney, to which she agreed.

Supporters of the Biden administration’s policy change argued it was more humane to migrants.

“For over three years, MPP has forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait for their asylum hearings in dangerous border towns, subjecting them to systemic danger and violence,” said Joan Rosenhauer, executive director of Jesuit Refugee Service. “JRS works directly with people in northern Mexico as they await their opportunity to pursue asylum and find safety in the U.S. We hear every day of the violence and suffering they experience.”

Biden also has taken fire for his decision to end Title 42 enforcement May 23. A Trump-era provision, Title 42 allows border agents to quickly expel illegal immigrants to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into the U.S. A federal judge on Monday blocked his lifting of that provision.

“I view Missouri as a proxy for all the others states impacted by the crisis we have at the border,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said. “Today, this is a central question about the rule of law and border security. We are very hopeful for a positive decision and result here.

“The drug trafficking, human trafficking doesn’t stop in El Paso,” he added.

Source: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/u-s-supreme-court-hears-arguments-in-remain-in-mexico-lawsuit/article_2d1caa2c-c57c-11ec-a771-6b07761ad4d0.html

The post U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in ‘Remain in Mexico’ lawsuit first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

—The response under way includes a newly created — and previously unreported — Southwest Border Coordination Center (SBCC), essentially a war room to coordinate an interagency response.

Why it matters: Border officials have used Title 42 more than 1 million times to rapidly expel migrants at the southern border without hearing asylum claims. But the Trump-era order wasn’t set up to be permanent, and senior Biden officials are preparing for its end as the virus is brought under control.

—Department of Homeland Security intelligence estimates that perhaps 25,000 migrants already are waiting in Mexican shelters just south of the border for Title 42 to end.

—On Wednesday, DHS Deputy Secretary John Tien asked employees “to consider stepping forward to support the DHS Volunteer Force,” citing large numbers of migrants at the southwest border, according to an email seen by Axios. The email seeks general support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and help with data entry.

—Sources spoke to Axios on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal conversations.

What they’re saying: White House spokesperson Vedant Patel did not confirm or dispute specifics of Axios’ reporting but said in a statement, “Of course the Administration is doing our due diligence to prepare for potential changes at the border.“

—“That is good government in action,” the statement said. “As always is the case this Administration is working every day to provide relief to immigrants, restore order, fairness, and humanity to our immigration system and bring it into the 21st century.”

Behind the scenes: Internal discussions have raised alarms that human trafficking networks throughout Mexico and Central America will exploit the situation to “generate a mass migration event.”

—Top Biden officials representing multiple agencies have been meeting to discuss a whole-of-government plan to deal with the potentially record-breaking spring influx of migrants. DHS has branded it the Southwest Border Mass Irregular Migration Contingency Plan.

The plan is sweeping, reflecting how serious the Biden administration believes the situation could soon become, worsening a border surge that has troubled it from the beginning.

Details: The SBCC will physically operate out of the DHS headquarters at St. Elizabeth’s in the case of a border emergency and will be led by Border Patrol’s Matthew Hudak, according to two sources familiar with the details.

—Although SBCC members have not been finalized yet, DHS is asking for senior officials to support the center from relevant agencies such as the departments of State, Justice, Defense and Health and Human Services.

—Meanwhile, DHS’s modeling would trigger some extreme measures, many of which have been taken during past border surges such as in 2021 and 2019.
The department could surge hundreds or thousands of additional personnel from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, Citizenship and Immigration Services and medical personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services.

—DHS could request aircraft from the U.S. Marshals Service to help transfer migrants to other areas of the border, and call on additional air and ground transportation from the Department of Defense.

—Officials could also request dozens of buses from the Bureau of Prisons to transport migrants between DHS facilities.

—And they anticipate having to expand and even build new soft-sided facilities that can shelter up to 2,000 migrants apiece.

Between the lines: Border resources are already strained with unusually high numbers of people attempting to cross every month for a year straight.

Officials expect those numbers to climb even higher in coming months due both to seasonal trends and the expected end of Title 42.

The backstory: The CDC’s Title 42 order, first issued under then-President Donald Trump in March of 2020, uses the pandemic as a reason for expelling migrants attempting to enter the U.S. — without the chance to seek asylum.

—Despite outcry from progressive Democrats and immigration advocates, the Biden administration has continued to rely on the policy to turn back migrant families and single adults.

—At the same time, the Biden administration has attempted to end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced migrants into dangerous situations by making them wait for asylum hearings in Mexico.

—The government’s seeming self-contradiction in simultaneously defending Title 42 — which has also forced migrants back to Mexico — was raised in court by D.C. Circuit Judge Justin Walker in a unanimous decision blocking the U.S. from expelling migrant families to countries where they may face persecution or torture.

What to watch: Reuters recently reported that the administration is leaning toward ending Title 42 itself.

—The CDC was recently forced by courts to again end the use of Title 42 for unaccompanied minors, and the order notes “CDC anticipates additional lifting of restrictions” as DHS becomes increasingly able to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its facilities.

—CDC reassesses Title 42 every 60 days. The next deadline for renewal is in early April. “We continue to defer to the CDC on the use of Title 42 and how long it might remain in effect,” a White House official told Axios.

—“As it stands right now — there are no changes: Title 42 is still in effect and anyone attempting to enter the country unlawfully will be subject to border restrictions — including potentially expulsion,” the official added.

In addition to preparations on the U.S. side of the border, officials are planning how to coordinate with Mexico and other Latin American nations.

—Buzzfeed News recently reported on DHS planning to discuss with Mexico Title 42 ending as soon as April, and what that could mean for migration flows. DHS Secretary Mayorkas visited Mexico this week.

The issue of immigration has plagued President Biden since he took office, opening him up to criticism from both the right and the left.

—Democrats have been most critical over the continued use of Title 42, which they see as a cruel Trump-era policy. Immigration advocates have been outraged over the low numbers for refugee admissions and the reimplementation of “Remain in Mexico” as ordered by a federal court.

—Meanwhile Republicans have pointed to record numbers at the border and reports of migrants being released into the U.S. by overwhelmed officials, saying Biden is creating “open borders.”

By the numbers: After declining in January, the number of encounters with migrants at the border ticked up in February to 165,000, according to new data released on Tuesday.

—While the number is well below last year’s peak of nearly 214,000 encounters in July, it is higher than last February’s, which initially sparked concerns of a border crisis.

—Border patrol arrests reached an all-time high in fiscal year 2021 at nearly 1.7 million.

—Officials are projecting similar numbers for this fiscal year with the end of Title 42, according to sources familiar with the estimates. And some are concerned that reports of migrants being released into the U.S. in lieu of Title 42 could further encourage migration.

Source: https://www.axios.com/biden-border-mexico-migrants-title-42-a91b6441-2197-463f-ab1f-2435824a9566.html

The post Biden officials fear “mass migration event” if COVID policies end first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A second major migrant caravan could be assembling in southern Mexico shortly.

Activist Irineo Mujica, who is currently leading upwards of 1,000 Central and Haitian migrants through the state of Oaxaca, said he’s expecting to meet up with a caravan 10 times larger in nearby Veracruz on November 18.

“We are not going to Mexico City, we are now going the northern border, we are going to Sonora,” Mujica said this week on social media. “For that reason, I am calling on all our migrant peers in Tapachula, in Coatzcoalcos, in Tabasco, in Acayuca […] to gather on the 18th of this month.”

Oscar El Blue@Oscarelblue
Breaking: Oaxaca MEXICO. Leader of the caravan of 4000 Irineo Mujica says that they are going to the north border of Sonora that connects to Arizona and he will built a bigger caravan of 10,000. @AgueroForTexas @BenBergquam @GriffJenkins @RealAmVoice @AliBradleyTV @UNITE_USA_1st

That’s the same date President Biden is scheduled to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to talk – among other things – about immigration. The timing could be more than coincidental.

“It seems to me that Mexico is using the caravans as leverage with the United States. Otherwise, the 18,000 Haitians that made it to Del Rio, Texas, would not have made it that far. They were allowed to transit through Mexico and make it to the border,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

The September migrant crisis in Del Rio drew international attention as thousands of Haitians, including families with small children, waded across the Rio Grande and formed a gigantic camp under the international bridge. Images of Border Patrol agents on horseback charging to contain the surge went viral on social media.

Lopez Obrador is pushing for the U.S. to ramp up worker visas for Mexicans, many of whom are already trying to cross the border by any means available after being displaced by narco-violence in the countryside in states like Michoacan, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Durango and others. AMLO, as Lopez Obrador is known, also wants the U.S. to “invest” in economic development in Southern Mexico and Central America.

“Every time a caravan comes to the border, it creates a political problem for the Biden administration. Not only do they have to deal with the asylum-seekers, but it also gives political gunpowder to Biden’s critics in the GOP and states like Texas to portray his policies as failed policies,” Payan said. “It’s not a good thing. It distracts him from other issues.”

Mujica, a U.S. citizen affiliated with the nonprofit Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), in late October led 4,000 out of Tapachula, a city near the border with Guatemala which he characterized as an “open-air prison” for migrants from all over the world. Most of the Haitians that showed up at Del Rio a month before also left from Tapachula.

In a Tuesday news conference in Mexico City, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar allegedly accused caravan organizers of benefiting smugglers who make money off of the migrants.

“The organizers say they are doing something for human rights. In reality, what they are doing is making money for the smugglers and criminals,” Milenio and Infobae quoted Salazar as saying.

The statement incensed Mujica.

“I completely refute what the ambassador said,” Mujica said on social media, pulling out his wallet open for the cameras. “This is my wallet, ambassador. I have nothing. […] Your intelligence (agents), are they not telling you I don’t even have money for tortillas? Where are you and what world are you living on?”

Oscar El Blue@Oscarelblue
Breaking: Leader of caravan Irineo Mujica Sends a direct message to the ambassador of the United States in Mexico: show me the millions that I’m stealing from the people, show me the millions in my account”.@AgueroForTexas @BenBergquam @GriffJenkins @AliBradleyTV

Mujica said the United States’ immigration policy has been a “disaster” and its officials are now turning to slandering him. “You should be ashamed of yourselves, ambassador, because you and Mexico have de-humanized migrants. What low morals you have,” the activist said.

This new wave of migrant caravans is also bad for business.

“There has to be some hard discussion on working together to prevent that because when (the caravans) reach the U.S. border and apply for asylum, that takes (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) officers off the vehicle inspection lanes and the cargo lanes and that slows down trade,” said Jerry Pacheco, president and CEO of the Border Industrial Association.

Pacheco said Mexico should “actively participate” in dissuading the northbound caravans because neither U.S. companies that invest south of the border nor their Mexican partners want to see their trucks being held up or enduring long waits at ports of entry. “Immigration has a direct impact on trade,” he added.

Payan of the Baker Institute concurs that the caravans have become an international political distraction.

“I think the caravans are absolutely distracting and it’s absolutely necessary that the United States convinces Mexico not to allow them to form, march through Mexico and get to the border,” Payan said. When that happens, “everything else is off and all the attention, all the resources go to dealing with asylum-seekers.”

Source: https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/new-10000-strong-migrant-caravan-would-leave-for-u-s-the-day-north-american-leaders-summit-starts/

The post New 10,000-strong migrant caravan would leave for U.S. the day North American leaders summit starts first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The controversial Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy — which forced migrants to wait south of the border in Mexico during their immigration proceedings — could begin again “within the coming weeks,” according to a federal court brief filed this week by Justice Department officials.

The four-page document filed Monday in Amarillo, Texas, said that the government of Mexico is close to accepting migrants who are sent back from the United States under the program, formally called Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP.

DHS “is ready to reimplement MPP shortly after the Government of Mexico (GOM) makes an independent decision to accept the return of individuals that the Department seeks to enroll in the program,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote.

Mexico apparently has one major sticking point, although the brief does not detail what it is.

A previous court filing on Oct. 14 listed several concerns by Mexico, including how many migrants will be returned daily, whether non-Spanish speakers will be sent back, and assurances that vulnerable individuals, like the sick, elderly or LGBTQ will not be sent back.

“Regular and high-level meetings” have been held with Mexican officials “to discuss the GOM’s concerns about the prior implementation of MPP and to work through possible solutions,” according to the court brief. They’ve “made significant progress and are close to finalizing these discussions.”

Although the Biden administration halted MPP when Joe Biden took office, the states of Texas and Missouri have sued the federal government to have the program reimplemented. In August, the Supreme Court refused to block a lower court’s injunction ordering the program be restarted.

Monday’s brief was a second supplemental notice of compliance by the defendants, but it signaled that MPP is close to being restarted.

Over 71,000 migrants were forced south of the border after the program began in 2019.

Migrant advocates say it is illegal and inhumane and puts migrants’ lives at risk by forcing them to live in dangerous northern Mexican border towns rife with killings and kidnappings.

“We think the use of MPP as a deterrent is unlawful and inhumane and denies people due process,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy council for the American Immigration Council, told Border Report on Tuesday.

Reichlin-Melnick says the Biden administration cannot guarantee that migrants living in Mexico will have access to proper legal advice in the United States.

“There are no measures that can be taken to ensure that those in MPP have the same access to counsel as those inside the United States. It is literally impossible. Therefore, any attempt by the U.S. and Mexican governments to work out an agreement where there would be supposedly access to counsel is at its heart a sham because, as the secretary has acknowledged, it’s not possible,” Melnick said.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@ReichlinMelnick
In a new court filing, @DHSgov says that it will likely be reinstating the Remain in Mexico program (the Orwellianly-named Migrant Protection Protocols) “within the coming weeks.”

They say negotiations with Mexico are down to just one final issue. What a sham and a farce.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Oct. 29 issued a 30-page memo to terminate the policy decrying that: “MPP had endemic flaws, imposed unjustifiable human costs, pulled resources and personnel away from other priority efforts, and did not address the root causes of irregular migration.”

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research organization from Syracuse University, this week reported that in October there were 18 asylum-seekers placed in MPP, according to court documents obtained by the organization.

However, TRAC researcher Austin Kocher told Border Report they have not come to any conclusive understanding on how those cases got classified into a program that ostensibly has not been restarted. “But 18 is not a fluke. Still, the number is small enough (and things are more confusing now policy-wise) that it’s hard to say exactly what’s up,” he said.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, which lists MPP entries dating back to 2019, has zero listed for placement in October.

Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the United States-Mexico border.
https://www.borderreport.com/

Border Report has reached out to DHS officials for clarification on this data. This story will be updated if additional information is received.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at Ssanchez@borderreport.com.

Source: https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/remain-in-mexico-policy-could-restart-in-coming-weeks-doj-officials-tell-federal-court/

The post ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy could restart in ‘coming weeks,’ DOJ officials tell federal court first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Vehicle, rail and ferry travel between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to essential travel, such as trade, since the earliest days of the pandemic. The new rules, to be announced Wednesday, will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter the U.S. regardless of the reason for travel starting in early November, when a similar easing of restrictions is set to kick in for air travel into the country. By mid-January, even essential travelers seeking to enter the U.S., like truck drivers, will need to be fully vaccinated.

Senior administration officials previewed the new policy late Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to speak ahead of the formal announcement.

Both Mexico and Canada have pressed the U.S. for months to ease restrictions on travel that have separated families and curtailed leisure trips since the onset of the pandemic. The latest move follows last month’s announcement that the U.S. will end country-based travel bans for air travel, and instead require vaccination for foreign nationals seeking to enter by plane.

Both policies will take effect in early November, the officials said. They did not specify a particular date.

The new rules only apply to legal entry to the U.S. Officials cautioned that those seeking to enter illegally will still be subject to expulsion under so-called Title 42 authority, first invoked by former President Donald Trump, that has drawn criticism from immigration advocates for swiftly removing migrants before they can seek asylum. One of the officials said the U.S. was continuing the policy because cramped conditions in border patrol facilities pose a COVID-19 threat.

According to the officials, travelers entering the U.S. by vehicle, rail and ferry will be asked about their vaccination status as part of the standard U.S. Customs and Border Protection admissions process. At officers’ discretion, travelers will have their proof of vaccination verified in a secondary screening process.

Unlike air travel, for which proof of a negative COVID-19 test is required before boarding a flight to enter the U.S., no testing will be required to enter the U.S. by land or sea, provided the travelers meet the vaccination requirement.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. will accept travelers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, not just those in use in the U.S. That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, will be accepted.

Officials said the CDC was still working to formalize procedures for admitting those who received doses of two different vaccines, as was fairly common in Canada.

The delay in the vaccination requirement for essential cross-border travel is meant to provide truck drivers and others with additional time to get a shot and minimize potential economic disruption from the vaccination mandate, officials said.

All told, the new procedures move toward a policy based on the risk profiles of individuals, rather than less targeted country-based bans.

The vaccination requirement for foreign nationals comes as the White House has moved to impose sweeping vaccination-or-testing requirements affecting as many as 100 million people in the U.S. in an effort to encourage holdouts to get shots.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor completed the initial draft of an emergency regulation that will require employers of 100 workers or more to demand their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested weekly. The Office of Management and Budget is now reviewing the order before its implementation.

Mexico has not put in place any COVID-19 entry procedures for travelers. Canada allows entry of fully-vaccinated individuals with proof of vaccination against COVID-19 as well as proof of a negative test conducted within 72 hours of entry to the country.

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/u-s-to-reopen-land-borders-in-november-for-fully-vaccinated/

The post US to reopen land borders in November for fully vaccinated first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Press secretary Psaki, DHS Secretary Mayorkas hold press briefing

EXCLUSIVE: President Biden on Friday left Border Patrol agents stunned after repeating debunked claims that Del Rio agents whipped or “strapped” Haitian migrants, while promising to make those agents “pay.”

Biden weighed in on the controversy over images that emerged Sunday of agents on horseback blocking Haitian migrants from entering the U.S.

Claims that agents, who were using long reins to control their horses, were using “whips” were quickly debunked by officials and other agents – but activists and elected Democrats have continued to fuel it. The photographer who took the images said Friday he did not see any agents whipping migrants.

BIDEN WARNS MOUNTED BORDER PATROL AGENTS CHARGING MIGRANTS IN DEL RIO SECTOR: ‘THOSE PEOPLE WILL PAY’ 

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had pushed back against the narrative alongside Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, but a day later – after the White House had called the images “horrific” – went on CNN and said the images “troubled me profoundly” before adding that “one cannot weaponize a horse” against migrants.

Sept. 19, 2021: U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

On Friday, amid an ongoing investigation into the agents – who have now been shifted to desk duty – and a day after the Biden administration barred the use of horses in Del Rio, the president tore into those agents.

“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped – it’s outrageous,” Biden said, making a whipping motion with his hand. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”

Border Patrol agents were stunned and angered by the comments, which both claimed without evidence that migrants were run over and whipped, and at the same time cast a shadow over the investigation.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION STOPS BORDER PATROL USING HORSES IN DEL RIO AMID DEM OUTRAGE

“Would you go to work and do your best knowing that if you do your boss is going to ‘make you pay’?” one agent told Fox News.  “I’m dumbfounded and don’t know what to say.”

The agent asked, “Is the president threatening to throw us in prison?”

Another said: “I see the administration wants to fry our agents. He just started a war with Border Patrol.”

Brandon Judd, head of the National Border Patrol Council, asked how there could be a fair investigation now that Biden had weighed in.

“Now that the president of the United States has already said they did wrong, how is an investigator supposed to do a true and honest investigation?” he told Fox News. “Because if that investigator finds they did nothing wrong — and they didn’t do anything wrong — but if that investigator finds they didn’t do anything wrong, how is that investigator’s job going to go?

Judd said Biden’s comments were “completely and totally outrageous” and accused Biden of “playing politics with Border Patrol agents’ lives.”

Judd again backed the agents at the center of the investigation and noted that they were doing the job they were tasked with doing by the same president who was now throwing them under the bus.

BORDER PATROL AGENTS FACING DEMOCRATIC ATTACKS SHIFTED TO DESK DUTY AMID INVESTIGATION

“Nobody was struck by a rein, not one person was struck by a rein, not one person was run over by those horses. They used the tactics they were trained to use, to do the job [Biden] sent them out to do — these are executive branch employees,” he said. “He sent them out there to do the job, and now he’s criticizing them because his base wants them to.”

Judd said he was mad over the comments, and said the anger was shared by his fellow agents.

Border Patrol agents on horseback. (Fox News/Bill Melugin)

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“Since he’s made that comment, my phone has obviously blown up. People are beyond incensed right now,” he said.

Former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan told Fox News agents have been “condemned, careers ruined and reputations irreparably harmed, without any due process — all to distract from the out of control catastrophic crisis at our southern border.”

BORDER PATROL UNION CHIEF SAYS BIDEN ADMIN USING ‘WHIP’ FUROR TO DEFLECT FROM HANDLING OF MIGRANT CRISIS

“How will they get a fair impartial inquiry now when everyone in the chain of command all the way up to the president of the United States has already concluded they are already guilty of some form of atrocity?” Morgan, also a former Border Patrol chief, told Fox News in an interview.

“For the president to say that, he has become emotionally unhinged and caved to the woke cancel culture,” he said. “The agents feel betrayed, stabbed in the back, demoralized.”

“This year’s ongoing immigration crisis has single-handedly done more to hurt the morale of the Border Patrol workforce than any other year in its history, and it didn’t have to happen like this,” National Border Patrol Council Vice President Jon Anfinsen told Fox News.

Fox News previously had spoken to several of the horse agents who had been sidelines by the ban on the use of horses. They said they were angry and frustrated about the false “whip” narrative, with one telling Fox News he’s now giving out meals and turning lights on and off rather than patrolling the border.

He said the kids in the camp loved the horses and the horses are now locked in a stall all day.

The agents also said the pictures also show one of the migrants grabbing onto the reins of an agent’s horse, which is a use of force approval for them to use deadly force if they wanted to.

Another agent who spoke to Fox News on Friday said that their entire station is outraged at the controversy, and hoped that the agents at the center of it eventually sue.

“I am appalled but not surprised that this President would stand at a national televised address and bold face lie or again show his utter incompetence, to the press and the American people, including his childish threats of retaliation,” the agent said.

That agent also accused Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz as being “missing in action” over the controversy.

“This is really pushing the morale to lows not seen before…just when you think it is at its lowest in comes this administration to push it lower,” the agent said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Judd said Border Patrol agents, despite their morale being low, would keep doing their job — although he warned they would likely be second-guessing their actions, a move that could be dangerous for law enforcement and those they are seeking to protect.

“I know these agents…. even though they do not have the support of this president, they’re still going to go out and they’re still going to do their job, because they do care about this country, they do care about border security, they do care about the safety of the citizens of this country,” he said. “So they’re still going to do their job, but they’re going to be second-guessing themselves in everything that they do, knowing that the president, without the benefit of an investigation, is already condemning them.”

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Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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Migrants crossed the Rio Grande between Texas and Mexico with supplies Thursday as they prepared to spend the night under the international bridge connecting Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune

DEL RIO — Five days after Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by a group of foreign mercenaries on July 7, 29-year-old Stelin Jean decided to flee the country with his wife and two children — traveling to Bolivia, where many Haitians have arrived recently before starting an arduous overland trek to the United States.

The family was in Panama last month when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, destroying thousands of homes and killing more than 2,000 people. Jean said some of his family members were injured in the earthquake, which only increased their sense of urgency to make it to the United States.

“There are people killing each other in Haiti, there’s just no justice,” said Jean, who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday afternoon after a two-month trek through the jungles of South America and then crossed the Rio Grande at Del Rio to claim asylum. “I just want to live a calm life without any problems, I want to live somewhere where I know there’s justice.”

The family has joined an estimated 12,000 migrants who in recent days have arrived at the border and are now waiting under the Del Rio international bridge, about 150 miles west of San Antonio, to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Most are from Haiti and are seeking asylum in the U.S.

On Friday, Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano declared a local state of disaster and said the city is closing the toll booths on the international bridge connecting the city to Ciudad Acuña to halt traffic across the bridge, as a security measure.

The city later released a statement that said “international traffic will continue as normal” and people could be seen going back and forth on the bridge Friday evening. But late Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that the port of entry would temporarily shutter.

“This temporary closure and shift is necessary in order for CBP to respond to urgent safety and security needs presented by an influx of migrants into Del Rio and is effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement. “It will advance and protect national interests and help ensure the safety of the traveling public, commercial traffic, and CBP employees and facilities.”

Traffic that normally uses border bridges into Del Rio will be directed 57 miles east to Eagle Pass, federal officials said. They did not indicate how long the Del Rio closures would last.

Lozano said earlier he had requested assistance from the state to help deter more migrants from entering the city. He said the city expects an additional 8,000 migrants to arrive in the coming days.

The sheer numbers arriving so quickly in Del Rio, a city of about 35,000 residents, has local officials worrying about how to feed and house thousands of migrants who for now are being forced to wait in the shade of the bridge.

“Dire circumstances require dire responses,” Lozano said. “There are people having babies down there [under the bridge], there are people collapsing out of the heat. They’re pretty aggressive, rightly so — they’ve been in the heat day after day after day.”

At an appearance in Fort Worth on Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security have told the state that the migrants will be relocated to Arizona, California, and perhaps Laredo. “But one thing that we know for a fact and that is, there’s nothing but uncertainty and indecision by the Biden administration about exactly what they’re going to do,” Abbott said.

Many of the migrants in Del Rio said they began their journey years ago, fleeing Haiti after previous disasters such as the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Junior Pacheco, 38, said he left Haiti for Chile, where he lived for five years before he made his way to the Texas-Mexico border in August. He said that after arriving in Mexico, police asked for his passport as he was exiting a charter bus and never returned it.

“There’s a lot of abuse on the way here. From people to the police, they steal our money, our passports. There are some people who get stranded on the way,” he said in a phone interview from Ciudad Acuña, where he was buying food, water, and a tent so his family could have somewhere to sleep.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico in Ciudad Acuña, across the border from Del Rio. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune

The post Thousands of Haitian migrants fleeing disaster and unrest seek asylum at Del Rio bridge first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Over the span of about a week, Texas received $459,000 in private donations for the state’s planned wall at the southern border, the governor’s office said Wednesday.

This comes after Gov. Greg Abbott said he would reallocate $250 million in state funds as a “down payment” for the project — while crowdfunding some of the remaining costs.

The identities of the donors and how much they donated to the wall construction are not readily available and can only be obtained through public information requests, a spokesperson for Abbott said. Eventually, Abbott’s office said, the total donations figure will be available online on a website that currently solicits people to donate.

Abbott has not given an estimate of the project’s total costs or details of how long the wall will be or where it will be located but said he expected it to be “hundreds of miles” long. He directed the Texas Facilities Commission to hire a program manager who will lead efforts to determine those factors.

The commission said in a statement Thursday it began work on creating a request for proposal for the program manager position, saying it would remain “transparent and compliant with State competitive bidding standards.”

Abbott also said he expects Texans to volunteer their land for the project and said he would send a letter to President Joe Biden asking the federal government to return land the Trump administration took from private property owners in Texas to build a border wall.

The Trump administration had met fierce resistance from private property owners unwilling to allow the federal government to build on their land. Land Commissioner George P. Bush said last week he would grant emergency authorization for the building of the wall on state lands, which makes up approximately 591,595 surface acres along the border.

Promises and calls for a border wall between Mexico and the U.S. were a hallmark of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, both during his campaigns and his presidency. Trump’s administration built about 450 miles of barrier, mostly in Arizona, according to The Washington Post. Trump is set to tour the border with Abbott next week. Vice President Kamala Harris will head to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday.

Construction on the federal wall largely stopped after Biden in January ordered federal agencies to pause construction on the barrier where possible. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told House lawmakers DHS is not requesting further border wall funding in its 2022 budget proposal to Congress.

Tensions over border security have risen between the Democrat president and the two-term Republican governor. Abbott has blamed Biden’s immigration policies for the increase of immigrants on the state’s southern border, saying in a disaster declaration that new federal policies have paved the way for “dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities.” Abbott has announced a partnership with the state of Arizona calling for other states to send law enforcement officials to help border states arrest and jail immigrants crossing the border.

There were 180,034 border crossings last month, compared to fewer than 25,000 border crossings in late 2020, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During the Trump administration, the highest recorded number of apprehensions was nearly 150,000.

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Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the U.S.-Mexico border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the end of the month, which he described on Tuesday as an “unmitigated disaster zone.”

The president said in a press release that he had accepted Abbott’s invitation to visit the “decimated” border, a deteriorating situation that he attributed to the Biden administration’s decisions to reverse many of his immigration policies.

“Biden and Harris have handed control of our border over to cartels, criminals, and coyotes. Drug dealers, MS-13 gang members, human smugglers, sex traffickers, and the criminal elements of the world now have free reign,” Trump said in a statement. “What Biden and Harris have done, and are continuing to do on our border, is a grave and willful dereliction of duty.”

HARRIS PUSHES AMNESTY BILLS ON DACA ANNIVERSARY, AS REPUBLICANS SLAM BORDER CRISIS RESPONSE

Abbott previously told Fox News in an interview that later this week he will unveil the state’s plans to build a border wall in an attempt to finish what the former president started.

“We will continue that process of building the border wall in addition to these other strategies that we will use to make sure that anybody coming here will understand Texas is the wrong state to come into,” Abbott said.

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