[ad_1]
EXCLUSIVE: Fox News has learned from a senior Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source that a plan is under consideration for border patrol officers in the Rio Grande Valley area (RGV) are starting to free illegal cross-border workers who seek asylum without issuing an appearance notice. (NTA) – meaning they will leave custody without a court date.
Such a decision would be unprecedented if enacted and would place the onus of requesting an asylum hearing on migrants through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or legal aid.
The source says the reasoning for the decision is that the situation has “become so serious that BP [Border Patrol] has no choice but to release people almost immediately after their apprehension because there is no space to hold people even to do the necessary NTA papers. “
The process of issuing an NTA to each migrant can take hours per person or per family. This would not apply to unaccompanied minors.
The Texas-based RGV is the zero point for the surge in border crossings and represents over 700% overcapacity.
BIDEN ADMIN HAS AUTHORIZED THE MAJORITY OF MIGRANT FAMILIES WHO ARE ABANDONED AT THE US BORDER
When migrants are released in the RGV, the border patrol usually coordinates it with Sister Norma Pimentel and her Catholic humanitarian respite center. Pimentel tells Fox News that she is aware and is “coordinating her response.”
The controversial decision that is said to be on the table comes as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) works to open another facility for unaccompanied migrant children in Pecos, Texas, the Office of Refugee Resettlement said on Saturday. (ORR).
The temporary influx care facility would house at least 500 unaccompanied minors to begin with, with the capacity to accommodate 2,000 children.
“As ORR has worked to increase its licensed bed capacity to nearly 13,500 beds, additional capacity is urgently needed to manage both improved COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the growing number of referrals to DHS CUs, ”said an ORR spokesperson.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that border crossings were on track to be the highest in 20 years.
CBP said it encountered more than 100,000 migrants at the border in February, while the number of child migrants in detention has also increased dramatically. The Biden administration set out to increase the capacity of migrant reception facilities and build a number of additional facilities – including reviewing NASA sites and military bases.
BIDEN ADMIN CONSIDERING THE FLIGHT OF MIGRANTS IN LATIN AMERICA TO STATES NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER
“We are on the verge of encountering more individuals on the southwest border than we have had in the past 20 years,” Mayorkas said, although he later added that the situation did not was “not new” and noted that the United States had already faced border peaks.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the Biden administration was considering transporting migrants to states near the Canadian border for processing.
CBP requested ICE support by plane on Friday after 1,000 families of migrants and unaccompanied minors crossed the Rio Grande to south Texas on Friday morning, homeland security officials told the Washington Post . Border officials reportedly still had 1,000 additional migrants they were unable to process on Thursday evening.
Safeguards at CBP are exacerbated by the nearly 4,500 unaccompanied children held in detention centers and border tent sites, many beyond the legal three-day limit.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
During the record-breaking border climb in 2019 under President Trump, ICE transported migrants to other border areas with the capacity to detain them.
Fox News contacted several DHS officials before publishing this story.
[ad_2]
Source link