Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Border Is Overwhelmed, Resulting in Quick Release of Families
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
March 29, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — The number of migrant families and children entering the U.S. from Mexico is so high that Border Patrol is immediately releasing them instead of transferring them to the agency responsible for their release, forcing local governments to help coordinate their housing, meals and travel.

“We need to work toward a clean sweep,” Border Patrol Deputy Chief of Operations Richard Hudson said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press sent to sector chiefs Thursday. “This should be our daily battle rhythm.”

“We need to work toward a clean sweep. This should be our daily battle rhythm.” — Border Patrol Deputy Chief of Operations Richard Hudson

Agents are still doing medical screenings and criminal checks, but the decision means thousands of families will be released without first going through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which manages their deportation cases.

The Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley sectors in Texas and the Yuma, Arizona, sector earlier announced that agents would begin to release families on their own recognizance. A Border Patrol official not authorized to speak on the matter said Wednesday that El Paso and San Diego planned on doing the same. Some sectors were not part of the change, including Tucson, Arizona and El Centro, California.

Families are typically released with notices to appear in immigration court due to legal restrictions on detaining them and lack of holding space. Until now, Customs and Border Protection has detained them briefly before turning them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, generally within 72 hours, to be released pending the outcome of their immigration cases.

The move came as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote to Congress asking for emergency funding for humanitarian and operational needs, and the ability to detain families together as long as necessary to deport people faster.

Arrests All Along the Southern Border Have Skyrocketed

“The volume of ‘vulnerable populations’ is unsustainable. Our system has been able to cope with high numbers in the past, but the composition of today’s flows makes them virtually unmanageable,” she wrote.

Arrests all along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months. Border agents are on track to make 100,000 arrests and denials of entry at the southern border this month, over half of which are families with children. To manage the crush, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reassigning 750 border inspectors from their usual duties at the ports of entry to help Border Patrol keep pace with arrivals in between ports of entry. The head of the agency held a press conference in El Paso on Wednesday to say the breaking point had arrived.

But federal lawmakers have fought over whether there is a “crisis” at the border, particularly amid President Donald Trump’s push for a border wall that he claimed will solve all the immigration problems. Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Thursday the evidence shows the immigration system is cracking under the strain.

“The sad reality is that we now have a virtual open border for any migrant who crosses with a minor, and our border security enforcement has been reduced to a mere speed bump for migrants on their path to long-term occupancy in the United States,” he said, adding border officers are being asked to perform an impossible task with no help from Congress.

And along the border, officials were working to manage the families that had been suddenly released. Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls said his city is working with various non-governmental organizations to make sure families released by the Border Patrol have temporary housing, food, medical care and help with traveling to their intended destinations.

An Extraordinary Spike in the Number of Immigrant Families

Most immigrant families coming to the U.S. don’t plan on staying in the border towns they cross through, but rather to meet up with family throughout the country.

“The sheer volume of family units crossing the border has overwhelmed ICE’s limited transportation resources; combined with a requirement to detain these individuals for no more than 20 days, the agency has no option but to expeditiously arrange for their release.”ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez

The Yuma Sector has over the last two years seen an extraordinary spike in the number of immigrant families who turn themselves in. Yuma Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Carl E. Landrum said Thursday that agents have arrested 30,000 people in the relatively small sector since October 1.

The facility in Yuma has the capacity to temporarily hold 410 people. Until Thursday, ICE had been picking all of these families up and taking them to Phoenix and Tucson to be processed. But the numbers have swelled so much now that ICE doesn’t have enough resources to pick everybody up, so Border Patrol agents themselves are releasing families in Yuma.

“It is overwhelming us locally, as well as overwhelming the system nationally,” Landrum said.

“The sheer volume of family units crossing the border has overwhelmed ICE’s limited transportation resources; combined with a requirement to detain these individuals for no more than 20 days, the agency has no option but to expeditiously arrange for their release,” ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez said in a statement.

The agency makes “every attempt to coordinate the release of these individuals with NGOs that provide assistance with basic needs, but the heavy influx in recent months has inundated these organizations as well,” Rodriguez said.

DON'T MISS

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

DON'T MISS

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

DON'T MISS

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

DON'T MISS

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

DON'T MISS

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

DON'T MISS

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

DON'T MISS

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

DON'T MISS

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

DON'T MISS

Former MLB Pitcher CJ Wilson of Fresno on New Torpedo Bats: ‘Still Room for Innovation’

UP NEXT

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Barred From Seeking Office for 5 Years

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Orders the Evacuation of Gaza’s Southern City of Rafah

UP NEXT

Earthquake Compounds Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar as Death Toll Passes 1,700

UP NEXT

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

UP NEXT

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Beirut for the First Time Since a Ceasefire Ended the Latest Israel-Hezbollah War

UP NEXT

Utah Becomes the First State to Ban Fluoride in Public Drinking Water

UP NEXT

At Least 20 Dead in Myanmar After Strong Earthquake

UP NEXT

Wilmer Flores’ 3-Run Homer in the 9th Inning Propels Giants to Victory Over Reds

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

56 minutes ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

2 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

2 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

2 hours ago

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

3 hours ago

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

3 hours ago

Former MLB Pitcher CJ Wilson of Fresno on New Torpedo Bats: ‘Still Room for Innovation’

4 hours ago

Man Arrested After Shooting at Fresno’s Switch Nightclub

4 hours ago

Who Is Fresno’s ‘Fake’ ICE Agent? He Speaks Up

4 hours ago

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Barred From Seeking Office for 5 Years

5 hours ago

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

Unable to restore a historic Chinatown building, the city of Fresno began demolishing it on Monday morning. The 1920s-era Bow On Tong Associ...

18 minutes ago

18 minutes ago

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

Photo of First Lady Melania Trump
50 minutes ago

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

56 minutes ago

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

Miguel Obed Romero Reyes, 25, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty Monday, March 31, 2025, to trafficking more than 200,000 fentanyl pills after authorities seized the drugs during a traffic stop on Interstate 5. (DOJ)
56 minutes ago

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

2 hours ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

2 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) lines up for the goal line Tush Push play during the NFL championship playoff football game against the Washington Commanders, Jan. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP File)
2 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

3 hours ago

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend