253 Migrants Apprehended in One Hour Along Texas Border with Mexico
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended two large groups of migrants during a one-hour period earlier this week near Mission, Texas. Agents also apprehended 56 others in a stash house and a failed human smuggling attempt.
Late Thursday night, McAllen Station Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 166 migrants who surrendered to them after illegally crossing the border from Mexico just south of Mission. The group consisted of family unit aliens and unaccompanied alien children, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.
253 illegal aliens apprehended in 1 hour.
Agents in Mission, Texas,encountered back to back groups.The 1st consisted of 166 individuals, which included over three dozen unaccompanied children. During the outdoor screening, a 2nd group of 87 people turned themselves into agents. pic.twitter.com/1L6JnFmmv2
— Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings (@USBPChiefRGV) February 6, 2021
While screening this group of migrants, another group of 87 migrants approached the agents and surrendered. This group also consisted of families and unaccompanied minors, officials stated.
Prior to this, Border Patrol agents in this area had only been finding groups of 50 or less migrants, MyRGVNews reported. Rapid expulsions of the migrants under the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deterred larger groups from attempting the dangerous and seemingly pointless border crossings. That program, along with other Trump administration programs effectively ended “Catch and Release” and reduces illegally border crossings by up to 85 percent, officials previously told Breitbart Texas.
Changes in policy by the Biden administration that ended the Migrant Protection Protocols and an apparent change in Mexican policies regarding the Title 42 expulsions appear to have exacerbated the situation in the Rio Grande Valley area.
On Wednesday, Border Patrol agents began releasing migrants families into the communities of McAllen and Brownsville, Texas. The migrants are being released into these border towns without being tested for COVID-19, local officials stated.
In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbott authorized state health officials to send 10,000 COVID-19 test kits to the City of McAllen, Breitbart Texas reported.
“(Border Patrol agents) were just dropping them off at the bus station without testing them. Obviously, that’s very alarming to all of us in that they’re coming from Central America and through Mexico and to be released into the United States without being tested for COVID is really unconscionable,” Texas State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials responded that Border Patrol agents have never been responsible for testing migrants for COVID-19.
A statement from CBP explains:
CBP uses a combination of onsite contract medical personnel and referrals to local health systems to provide medical support for persons in custody who require medical attention. CBP personnel conduct initial inspections for symptoms or risk factors associated with COVID-19 and consult with onsite medical personnel, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or local health systems as appropriate. Onsite medical personnel can provide basic assessment and supportive treatment, but suspected COVID-19 cases are referred to local health systems for appropriate testing, diagnosis, and treatment.
On Friday morning, agents patrolling near Linn, Texas, attempted to stop a Ford F150. The driver refused to yield. While the agents attempted to radio a description of the vehicle to local police for assistance, the driver drove off the roadway and into a rancher’s fence. The driver and the smuggled migrants bailed out of the truck, officials stated.
A search of the area led to the apprehension of “ten subjects who were identified as being illegally present in the United States,” the statement continues. Agents did not find the driver.
One day earlier, the Roma, Texas, Police Department attempted to stop a Chevrolet Malibu spotted driving away from a suspected human smuggling stash house. The officer chased the vehicle until the occupants baled out. The responding officers and agents apprehended the driver and migrants. An interview led to a raid on the suspected stash house where three more migrants were found.
Thirty-eight more migrants were found in another human smuggling stash house in Starr County, Texas, on Wednesday.
Between Wednesday and Friday, Rio Grande Valley Sector agents apprehended more than 300 migrants in these incidents alone.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.
Joe Biden Puts Americans in the Dark by Revoking Ability to Reject Refugee Dumping in Their Communities
U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday that denies state and local governments any authority to reject the drop-off of refugees into their towns and communities.
In essence, former President Donald Trump’s policy (Executive Order 13888 of September 2019) gave state and local governments a say in whether they have the capacity to provide refugees a pathway to become self-sufficient and successfully integrate into American society.
Biden’s new executive order (EO) indicated that the federal government would consult with American communities across the country about refugees’ resettlement.
The president’s “Executive Order on Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration” noted:
Through the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), the Federal Government, cooperating with private partners and American citizens in communities across the country, demonstrates the generosity and core values of our Nation, while benefiting from the many contributions that refugees make to our country.
However, with the stroke of a pen Thursday, Biden revoked Trump’s Executive Order 13888 that enhanced state and local involvement in refugees’ resettlement within their jurisdiction.
Biden’s order does ask the secretaries of state and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide the president with a report within 90 days from Thursday that “shall include recommendations regarding whether” Trump’s executive order “should be maintained, reversed, or modified.”
The report must also describe “all agency actions, including memoranda or guidance documents, that were taken or issued in reliance on or in furtherance of the directives revoked.”
It appears unlikely the Biden administration will reverse course on canceling Trump’s EO on state and local governments’ involvement in refugee settlements within their jurisdictions.
Legal advocacy groups, such as the New York-based International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), welcomed Biden’s new policy on refugees’ resettlement. IRAP has opposed Trump’s immigration policies in the past.
"Today’s order represents an important first step towards rebuilding the refugee program… we at IRAP applaud the administration’s efforts to improve the integrity and equity of the program."https://t.co/VzWjyGDaL0 https://t.co/3e8phd9r6u
— Sunil Varghese (@SunilRVarghese) February 5, 2021
Some Democrat lawmakers had urged Biden to craft a refugee policy like the one outlined in the president’s new executive order.
Breitbart’s Neil Munro pointed out that Trump’s refugee policy from September 2019 gave states, cities, counties, and towns the legal power to stop groups from dumping foreign refugees into their communities, adding:
The policy will allow residents to block the stealthy efforts by refugee resettlement groups to direct new refugees into communities which are selected by local elites. This refugee dumping is usually done at the request of local employers, such as slaughterhouses, that want new workers to replace ones who quit because of low wages, harsh conditions, and health hazards.
During the Trump-era, Munro noted, refugee resettlement groups were forced to lay off workers amid the reduced inflow of refugees and federal funding.
Those groups denounced the former president’s refugee policy.
“The policy requiring the approval of Americans before refugee drop-offs was described as ‘more bad news’ by HIAS, a group which gets paid to move refugees into U.S. communities,” Munro wrote.
HIAS applauded Biden’s new executive order on America’s refugee policy
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