Border Patrol Releases Migrants in South Texas
Border Patrol Releases Migrants in South Texas
Border Patrol officers say the move is necessary to alleviate overcrowding, but immigration advocates worry it’s a political stunt.
By Claire Hansen, Staff Writer March 21, 2019, at 2:30 p.m.
Border Patrol Releases Migrants in Texas
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Immigrants, most seeking political asylum, walk to an aid center after being released from U.S. government detention. Nov. 3, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Migrant detention facilities in Texas' Rio Grande Valley have swelled past capacity, leading the U.S. Border Patrol to release hundreds of recently apprehended migrants.
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Border Patrol in McAllen, Texas, released 250 migrants earlier this week and expects to let go hundreds more in the coming days, citing overcrowding, according to The Los Angeles Times. Migrants apprehended at the border would typically be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for processing and then usually placed in detention facilities. Border Patrol has reportedly said that a recent wave of Central American families seeking asylum has contributed to the lack of space.
A border patrol agent told The Los Angeles Times that the agency plans to make similar releases along other parts of the border; In El Paso, 150 migrants were suddenly released from custody on Tuesday, according to The New York Times.
The release of the migrants appears to be a return to the "catch and release" policies that President Donald Trump has railed against and vowed to end.
Border Patrol agents have told reporters that the releases are due to security reasons and meant to protect agents and detained migrants. Last week, two ICE unions sent a biting letter to Trump calling for the continuation of catch and release policies due to overcrowding, among other things.
Both Sides of the Border
Immigrant rights activists have called the migrant releases stunts meant to sow confusion and prop up the Trump administration's claims that there is a crisis at the border.
"They are doing this deliberately so they can release a ton of people at once and create chaos," Efren Olivares, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told The Los Angeles Times.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents a congressional district that includes McAllen, said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration was creating a crisis on the border.
"On Monday, I received word that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning to release detained family units and migrants without processing, without proper plans for housing, and with no course of reasonable action," Gonzalez said. "The Administration can no longer claim asylum seekers are criminals, nor can they claim that there is an emergency along the border, considering the haphazard nature of their handling of this situation."
Border apprehensions spiked in February, increasing 38 percent over January in one of the highest monthly totals in the last decade. Apprehensions are still much lower than levels seen before the mid-2000s, however.
The migrants who were released in the Rio Grande Valley area were given notices to appear in court and directed to Catholic Charities, which runs shelters in the area. Border Patrol has also dropped migrants off at bus stations, which charity workers have pleaded with the agency not to do.
Sister Norma Pimentel, who runs the Catholic Charities shelter, told the Los Angeles Times that 600 migrants arrived Wednesday, adding to the 900 already there. The charity has opened three more sites to handle the influx.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both from Texas, are scheduled to visit McAllen on Thursday and meet with local sheriffs and officials from immigration agencies.
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