Tag: border

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U.S. Reaffirms Land Border Restrictions with Canada and Mexico

U.S. Reaffirms Land Border Restrictions with Canada and Mexico

Nonessential travel restrictions from Canada and Mexico do not apply to air, freight rail or sea, and traveling by land is still allowed for many reasons, including business, medical purposes and education. All international air travelers into the United States have to present a negative coronavirus test taken within three days of departure or proof of recovery from the virus within 90 days.

Canada made the decision to reopen its border based on its vaccination progress — more than three quarters of the country has received at least one dose of vaccine, according to governmental data, a far higher percentage than the United States, where a little more than 56 percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Residents within the United States and across its land borders have pressed for reopening, and more than 2,800 people have joined a private Facebook group organized by Let Us Reunite, an advocacy group.

One of the group’s members is Heather Kienle, a U.S. citizen who lives in Montreal. Crossing the border has not been a problem for Ms. Kienle, but her husband, a Canadian, cannot.

So Ms. Kienle, who is six months pregnant, often drives alone or with her 4-year-old daughter more than eight hours to West Babylon, N.Y., to care for her mother, who has endometrial cancer.

“It was just very stressful because I had to travel by myself, without my husband, and I had to take care of my daughter in the back seat,” Ms. Kienle said on Wednesday.

U.S. politicians from both parties have also objected to the restrictions.

Brian Higgins, a congressman who represents a district in Western New York that borders Canada, said in a statement on Wednesday that “today’s decision by the Biden administration harms economic recovery and hurts families all across America’s northern border; this is completely unnecessary.”

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Politics

Vice President Kamala Harris visits the U.S.-Mexico border as immigration disaster continues

Vice President Kamala Harris visits the U.S.-Mexico border as immigration crisis continues

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first visit as Vice President to the US-Mexico border on Friday, touring immigration facilities and meeting with young women.

Speaking to reporters after her tour, Harris said the border trip increased the need to address the root causes of the surge in undocumented migrants from Central America.

“The lack of economic opportunity, very often violence, corruption and food insecurity,” said Harris, “including fear of cartels and gang violence.”

“The work we have to do is address the root causes or else we will continue to see the effects of what is happening at the border,” she said. “It will, as we have done, require a comprehensive approach that recognizes every part of it.”

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden appointed Harris to work to address these causes. In June, she visited Guatemala and Mexico, where she delivered a blunt message to potential migrants.

“I want to make it clear to people in the region who are considering making this dangerous hike to the US-Mexico border, don’t come. Don’t come,” Harris said at a press conference in Guatemala on June 7th. “I think if you get to our border, you will be rejected.”

Harris had been criticized by Republicans in recent weeks for not having personally visited the US-Mexico border.

The White House said Harris always plans to make the trip at the right time. However, the June 25 election may have been influenced by former President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday to visit the June 30 border with Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott.

A day after Trump announced his upcoming trip, the White House said Harris would visit the border on June 25. Harris’ trip took the White House press corps by surprise. Typically, West Wing aides brief a small group of reporters at least a week in advance of the President and Vice President’s travel plans to give news agencies time to organize their coverage.

Harris denied on Friday that Trump’s plans had any impact on her schedule.

“I said I was going to the border in March, so this is not a new plan,” Harris told reporters after landing in Texas. “Coming to the border … means looking at the effects of what we’ve seen in Central America.”

However, the White House said El Paso’s choice to visit was actually influenced by the former president. In his 2019 State of the Union address, Trump claimed his border wall had turned El Paso from a criminal city into a safe city that angered residents.

Biden and Harris have been criticized for pulling back on Trump-era restrictive immigration policies, even though immigrant detentions on the U.S.-Mexico border have hit 20-year highs in recent months.

Immigration remains a hot topic for both sides. Democrats and pro-immigrant activists have urged Biden to further reduce enforcement and ensure humane treatment of migrant children and families who arrive at the border.

White House officials have said for months that Harris’ efforts to curb immigration from Central America are diplomatic-centered and distinct from border security issues.

“The Vice President’s trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this year was about the causes, and this border visit is about the effects,” their spokesman, Symone Sanders, told reporters on Thursday. “Both trips will influence the government’s cause strategy.”

– Reuters correspondent Nandita Bose contributed to this report.

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Politics

Fewer Migrant Kids Arriving Alone at US Border, Knowledge Reveals

Fewer Migrant Children Arriving Alone at US Border, Data Shows

The number of migrant children and teenagers arriving alone at the United States border with Mexico decreased last month compared to a month earlier, according to newly released Customs and Border Protection data.

There was a slight increase in the number of border crossings, encounters and apprehensions overall during the same time period, a sign that the record surge of migrants trying to get into the country this spring could be starting to stabilize.

But the problem is far from over for the Biden administration, which is currently trying to safely place more than 16,000 migrant children in government custody with family members living in the United States. The administration on Monday threatened to sue the state of Texas if Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, follows through with his threat to shut down more than 50 shelters in the state where thousands of migrant children have been living.

Mr. Abbott’s action, which was part of a disaster order issued at the end of last month, was seen by many as a deliberate swipe at the Biden administration’s more compassionate posture on immigration compared to the restrictive measures of the Trump administration.

It is typical for the number of migrants traveling to the United States through the southern border to increase during spring months, but this year the turnout has been much higher, with a nearly 50 percent increase in border crossings, encounters and apprehensions in March, April and May compared to a similar surge over the same period in 2019.

Republicans have seized on the surge along the southern border, calling it a crisis — a term the Biden administration has avoided.

Most of the adult migrants who have been arriving at the southern border this year have been barred from entering the country because of a public health rule put in place during the Trump administration, which is responsible for more than 463,000 expulsions on the southern border between January and May of this year.

While the last administration also barred children for public health reasons, the Biden administration has been allowing migrant children to enter the country and stay in shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services until they can be placed with a family member or other sponsor. Since the beginning of the year, more than 65,000 migrant children and teenagers arrived alone on the southern border, with record numbers arriving during the spring months. Nearly 2,900 fewer migrant children arrived alone at the southern border in May compared to a month earlier.

Because of a shortage of shelter space at the federal government’s network of state-licensed facilities earlier this year, migrant children were forced to stay in overcrowded holding cells along the southern border long past the legal limit. Earlier this year, the Biden administration moved to set up about a dozen emergency shelters where the children could stay in Health and Human Services custody until they are placed with a family member or sponsor inside the United States.

Recently, migrant children and teenagers have been staying in H.H.S. custody for an average of 37 days, according to government statistics. Children’s advocates have said ideally a child would not have to stay more than 20 days in a government shelter.

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World News

In Guatemala, Harris Tells Undocumented to Keep Away From U.S. Border

Kamala Harris dio un mensaje claro en Guatemala: ‘no vengan’

GUATEMALA CITY – During her first trip abroad as Vice President, Kamala Harris said the United States would step up its investigation into corruption and human trafficking in Guatemala while sending a clear, blunt message to undocumented migrants hoping to reach the United States: “Don’t ! Come.”

Ms. Harris issued the warning during a trip that was an early but crucial test for a Vice President currently in charge of the complex challenge of breaking a cycle of migration from Central America into a region plagued by corruption, violence and poverty invested.

While President Biden campaigned to lift some of the Trump administration’s border restrictions and allow migrants to seek asylum at the U.S. border, Ms. Harris reinforced the White House’s current stance that most of those crossing the border should , would be turned away and would instead need to find legal recourse or protection in the vicinity of their home country.

In discussions about corruption with the Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, who was criticized for his political agenda and the persecution of corruption fighters, she did not shy away from harsh language.

“We will try to eradicate corruption wherever it exists,” said Harris, adding that the government will support an anti-corruption unit in the attorney general’s office in Guatemala that has been criticized by Mr Giammattei. “That was one of our highest priorities in terms of focus that we set here after the President asked me to take on this topic of focus on this region.”

Mrs Harris, whose own ambitions for the presidency are clear, has been tapped by Mr Biden to invest in Central America to deter the weak from the dangerous journey north. Mr Biden was criticized by Republicans and some moderate Democrats during the early months of his tenure for the rising number of unaccompanied minors converting along the US-Mexico border.

But the Biden administration has continued to use a Trump-era rule to reject most adult migrants, sparking backlash from human rights groups.

Rachel Schmidtke, the Latin America attorney for Refugees International, an immigrant-friendly group, said in a statement Monday that the organization was concerned.

The Vice President’s top aides have tried to differentiate her role from the political landmine of border management, instead saying her focus is on working with overseas governments to strengthen the Central American economy and create more opportunities for people who are now To flee to the United States see states as their best option.

Ms. Harris announced new steps in the effort on Monday. The Biden government will deploy homeland security officers to Guatemala’s northern and southern borders to train local officials – a tactic similar to previous governments’ migration deterrence tactic. The State Department and Justice Department will also set up a task force to investigate corruption cases linked to Guatemala and the United States while training Guatemalan prosecutors.

“We had a very frank conversation about the importance of an independent judiciary,” said Ms. Harris. “We had a conversation about the importance of a strong civil society.”

For his part, Mr Giammattei described the allegations against him as “misinformation”.

He also said that during a meeting with Ms. Harris, he again asked the Biden government to temporarily exempt some Guatemalans from deportation by providing safeguards that normally apply to those fleeing natural disasters or war, and referring to hurricanes who hit Central America last year. When he questioned Ms. Harris in front of reporters on the matter, she did not respond directly.

The Biden administration also outlined a $ 48 million investment in entrepreneurship programs, affordable housing and agricultural businesses in Guatemala, part of a four-year plan of $ 4 billion to invest in the region. Ms. Harris last month announced the commitment of a dozen private companies, including Mastercard and Microsoft, to develop the Central American economy.

But hanging over these programs is how to ensure that US aid goes to those who need it most, not just the contractors recruited by the United States or Guatemalan officials.

In 2019, Guatemala identified a United Nations-backed anti-corruption body called Cicig, which worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to bring cases of corruption but was also accused by conservatives in the country of having a political agenda.

Ricardo Zúñiga, Mr Biden’s special envoy for Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, described such independent anti-corruption bodies as “very successful efforts”. However, Ms. Harris’ team did not say that Guatemala needed an independent body to investigate corruption.

“The point is that there is no specific model,” said Mr. Zúñiga. “It’s about supporting the people within government or within the institutions, mainly judicial authorities, who have the will and the ability to move these cases forward.”

Ms. Harris made a point in her opening remarks to focus on encouraging potential migrants to stay closer to their homes while they apply for entry into the United States and await responses. Days beforehand, their top assistants announced that they would be building a new center in Guatemala where people in Central America can find out about asylum protection or refugee status instead of traveling to the US border.

“Most people don’t want to leave the place where they grew up. Your grandmother. The place where they prayed. The place where their language is spoken is familiar to their culture, ”said Ms. Harris. “And when they leave, there are usually two reasons: either they are fleeing damage or they simply cannot meet their basic needs.”

In Chex Abajo, a mountain village 255 miles from Guatemala City, where Ms. Harris was speaking, Nicolás Ajanel Juarez said that despite promises made by various American presidents, his community was unable to cater for such necessities.

The village of indigenous corn farmers embodies the daunting task the Vice President faces. Mr. Juárez, a member of the local leadership, said many of the 600 residents watched their homes blow away in two cyclones. Profits from corn harvests are no longer reliable as climate change has prolonged the dry season.

Many families in the village depend on remittances from relatives in the United States. Those whose standard of living has been raised by US wages have larger cement and iron houses marked with stars and American flags. The main street in the village is called Ohio because of the many migrants who have found work in landscaping in the state.

Mr Juárez, who crossed the border three times in the past two decades, said migration to the United States will continue until community members have stable jobs.

“It would be best if aid could come direct rather than through the government because it will be lost there,” Juárez said against the music played for a nearby ceremony commemorating a member of the community who lived in two years ago entered the United States and died. “Politicians don’t know because they don’t come here to see people’s needs with their own eyes.”

After meeting with Mr. Giammattei, Ms. Harris met a group of women who have organized development programs for indigenous communities or organized training courses for those looking to acquire business skills.

Before that, however, she recognized the symbolic weight of being the first female vice president and making Guatemala her first overseas destination in that office. While a group of protesters with signs against Ms. Harris’ visit stood near an entrance to the military airport, a number of families, including many women, stood by another fence hoping to catch a glimpse of the Air Force II landing in To catch Guatemala.

“As far as I can influence because of my gender and the fact that I am the first, I welcome that,” said Ms. Harris, adding, “You may be the first to do it, but make sure you do it is not. “the last.”

Pedro Pablo Solares contributed the coverage from Guatemala City.

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Politics

Detentions at Southwest Border Attain 20-12 months Excessive

Detentions at Southwest Border Reach 20-Year High

U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested 178,622 people on the border with Mexico in April. This is the highest number of arrests in at least two decades.

About 63 percent of detainees who attempted to cross the southwest border have been expelled from the United States, the agency said in a press release. The number of minors taken into custody fell by 12 percent to 13,962 from March, according to the agency.

The number of immigrants imprisoned on the southwestern border has risen for twelve consecutive months, according to customs and border guards. President Biden promised a more humane approach to immigration than President Donald J. Trump. Some immigrants, many of whom are fleeing the poor economic conditions in Mexico and Central America, hope that it will be easier for them to enter the United States.

While Mr Biden promised to overturn some of Mr Trump’s policies, he urged immigrants to stay home and gave customs and border guards more powers to send back detained immigrants in accordance with applicable coronavirus protocols.

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Biden Picks Trump Critic Chris Magnus to Run Border Company

Biden Picks Trump Critic Chris Magnus to Run Border Agency

“I’ve been thinking about how I really wanted to treat people differently,” he said. “And it had an impact, that’s for sure.”

Chief Magnus began his law enforcement career as a dispatcher in the Lansing Police Department in 1979, rose through the ranks to become Chief of Police in Fargo, ND, in 1999, helping set up a refugee liaison program.

Later, as the chief of police in Richmond, he helped fight violent crime. In 2014, one of his last years in the department, the city recorded only 11 murders, the lowest number in more than four decades. That year Chief Magnus was photographed holding the Black Lives Matter sign and when criticized by the local police union said he would do it again.

However, in Richmond, Chief Magnus also faced a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by seven black sergeants, lieutenants and captains, despite a 2012 jury rejecting all claims. In 2015, a former Richmond police officer settled a dismissal suit with the department after saying he was fired for complaining that Chief Magnus sexually molested him and committed racial slurs. Chief Magnus called the allegations “completely wrong”.

“At that time, there were still people who said I was an easier target because I was a gay man,” he said. “This is not the first time in my career that I’ve seen it.”

In Tucson last year, Chief Magnus drew fire again when it took the department two months to release the body camera video of the death of a 27-year-old Latino man, Carlos Ingram Lopez, who repeatedly asked for water while he was withheld was by police officers.

Chief Magnus blamed the delay on a bureaucratic breakdown and said he didn’t see the video right away. But he said he wish he had done more to see it for himself. “We should have asked to see the video but it didn’t and when we finally saw it we were obviously very concerned about it,” he said. Chief Magnus offered to resign during a press conference when the video was released, but the mayor kept him updated and praised his work in a statement Monday.

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White Home southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson to go away put up

White House southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson to leave post

The President’s Special Assistant and Southern Border Coordinator Ambassador Roberta Jacobson speaks during a news conference on March 10, 2021 in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Almond Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson will leave her post in late April, the White House said Friday.

“In line with her initial commitment to serve the government for the first 100 days, Ambassador Jacobson will step down from her role as coordinator later this month,” said Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the White House, in a statement.

Jacobson’s departure comes as the Biden administration works to combat an increase in migrants arrested on the U.S.-Mexico border, including a record number of unaccompanied children crossing the border in March – more than 60% more than last year (2019 ).

Many migrants come from Central America, where natural disasters, food insecurity and violence are among many complex reasons that compel them to seek refuge in the United States

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White Home Border Coordinator to Step Down

White House Border Coordinator to Step Down

WASHINGTON – Roberta S. Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico who elected President Biden as his “border tsar” on the National Security Council, will resign later this month, she said on Friday, even if the government is struggling to confront a flood of migrants on the nation’s southwest border.

Ms. Jacobson, described as one of the key players in the Biden administration’s dealings with the governments in the Northern Triangle area of ​​Central America, praised Mr. Biden’s efforts to repair and reshape the nation’s immigration system after four years by President Donald J. Trump.

“You are continuing towards the architecture that the president designed: an immigration system that is humane, orderly and safe,” she said in a brief interview. “I go optimistically. The political direction is so clearly right for our country. “

Ms. Jacobson said her appointment as special assistant to the president and border coordinator in the White House should only last about 100 days – a deadline that expires in late April if she is about to leave government.

The timing of their departure is remarkable, however, and is in the midst of government efforts to reduce immigration from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Ms. Jacobson had been accused of leading these efforts when her appointment was announced that year.

Republican critics say Mr Biden’s decision to quickly reverse many of the toughest Trump-era immigration policies in his early days in office sparked a new wave of migrants from Central America, including families and children traveling alone to the border.

Biden government officials, including Ms. Jacobson, have argued that the increasing migration flow needs to be addressed at its source: especially in Central American countries where violence, war, poverty, gangs and natural disasters are forcing people to move out of their homes flee to the United States for refuge.

However, her role as one of the government’s top border officials was eclipsed late last month when Mr Biden announced that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead the government’s diplomatic efforts with the region.

In the interview, Ms. Jacobson said the President’s move to hire Ms. Harris for efforts to curb migration from Central America was not a factor in her decision to leave the country or her timing.

“I briefed and worked in support of the Vice President’s leadership on this matter,” said Ms. Jacobson. “Nobody could be happy if the Vice President took on this role. It had nothing to do with my decision. “

Two weeks ago, in a separate interview with the New York Times, Ms. Jacobson spoke at length about her plans to travel to Central America, where she expected to work with government officials to reduce the flow of migrants north towards the United States.

Last month she traveled to Mexico to discuss ways to combat illegal immigration and strengthen protection capacities for migrants with executives. Ms. Jacobson said in the interview that the trip was also an attempt to find ways to work with Central American countries, as well as possibly Canada, to ease pressure on the border with the United States.

“I would say that we – we have the beginnings of these conversations,” she said. “But right now we’re more focused on how we can work with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.”

In early March, Ms. Jacobson answered questions from reporters at the White House in an attempt to discourage migrants from traveling to the United States. She repeated the government’s message that the border with Mexico had remained closed.

But when she tried to translate this blunt message into Spanish, she accidentally reversed its meaning and said, “La frontera no esta cerrada” which means “the border is not closed” in English. Later in the meeting, she corrected herself and translated the message correctly.

Mr Biden’s decision to hold Mrs Harris responsible for Central American diplomacy was then viewed by the White House as an attempt to send a message that the government is taking the border issue seriously.

It also served as the first substantive guideline for the Vice President, who has stood by Mr. Biden’s side since taking office but has not overseen any specific part of the Biden agenda.

Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said in a statement that “there is no better person to initiate a safer and more equitable approach to our southern border” than Ms. Jacobson.

He said she was leaving the government “after it shaped our relationship with Mexico as an equal partner, launched our renewed efforts with the nations of the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and underscored the government’s commitment to revitalizing the US immigration system.” . ”

Ms. Jacobson said she remains confident that the government will continue to make progress to convince the leaders of Mexico and Central American countries to work with the United States to slow the pace of migration.

“They know it’s something that can’t happen overnight,” she said of her colleagues in the Biden administration. But she added that officials in the other countries are also motivated to find solutions.

“Diplomacy is a conversation,” she said. “It’s not a monologue.”

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Russia-Ukraine tensions develop once more on the border

Russia-Ukraine tensions grow again on the border

LONDON – A sharp rise in tensions between Russia and Ukraine in recent weeks raises fears of a revival of the military conflict.

Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, there has been ongoing clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists in Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine. It is believed that around 14,000 people were killed in the fighting, interrupted by ceasefire periods (which both sides have accused of injuring the other).

Last week, Ukraine said four of its soldiers were killed in shelling by Russian forces in Donbass.

In early March, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ruslan Khomchak, said that Russia’s “armed aggression” in Donbass posed a “great threat” not only to the national security of Ukraine, but to all NATO allies. Earlier this week, he said that Russian troops had been gathering near the border.

Russia’s actions in the US have not gone unnoticed On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken reiterated Washington’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity “in the face of ongoing Russian aggression,” the State Department said in a statement.

Speaking to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Blinken expressed “concerns about the security situation in eastern Ukraine and expressed condolences to the recent loss of four Ukrainian soldiers,” the statement added.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was concerned about mounting tensions in eastern Ukraine and feared that Kiev armed forces could do something to resume conflict.

“We are concerned about the growing tension and that the Ukrainian side could, in one way or another, take provocative measures that could lead to war. We really don’t want to see that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.

“I mean a civil war that has already been going on,” said Peskov when asked to clear a conference call with reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who have tried to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, about “serious concerns about the escalation of armed confrontation on the Ukraine-provoked contact line “. and, according to Russia, Ukraine’s “refusal” to honor agreements that were part of the last ceasefire coordinated in July.

Timothy Ash, chief emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, commented on Wednesday: “It seems like Putin is trying to test and investigate the West’s defenses and decide to confront him – maybe this is the prelude to one new military offensive in Ukraine. “

“It feels like Putin is preparing for a big step – perhaps a distraction to his own problems at home with Navalny and focusing on … State Duma elections. A victory in Ukraine would benefit the nationalist crowd in Russia and Russia throw some red meat again. ” expose the weakness of the West, “he added, referring to the imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

Ash advised Russian observers to keep an eye on the water shortage in the Crimea. The roots were laid seven years ago when Ukraine blocked the North Crimean Canal, cutting off most of the region’s freshwater supplies.

“If I were to look somewhere south and to the water problems in Crimea. The risk is that Russia will try diversionary tactics in Donbass if the bigger price is a military advance into Ukraine to conquer watercourses that water Crimea supply.” Said Ash.

“Perhaps Putin believes the West is weak and divided and unable to react,” continued Ash, citing inadequate sanctions by the Joe Biden administration, for example on the North Stream gas pipeline, because of the SolarWinds hack that was launched against US Failed government networks, and the 2016 election meddling “as a signal that the US is only petrified to act for fear of what Russia might do.”

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Border Apprehensions Attain Highest Degree in at Least 15 Years

Border Apprehensions Reach Highest Level in at Least 15 Years

Authorities have dropped families with children at bus stops in border communities, where they continue their journey north to meet relatives in the United States. Border officials encountered more than 1,360 migrants traveling as part of families on Sunday and only displaced 219 according to records. On March 26, more than 2,100 families were arrested and only 200 were sent back south.

“We see that the numbers are increasing day by day. They have increased tremendously, especially in March, ”said Hugo Zurita, general manager of the Good Neighbor Settlement House in Brownsville, Texas, which provides hot meals and items such as clothing, hand sanitizer and masks to migrant families in the city at Bus Stop.

Republican Congressmen, who vowed to put the issue at the center of their efforts to regain control of Congress, have repeatedly accused the government of spurring the surge in migration with the promise of President Biden to have more compassionate policies on migrants than those imposed under President Donald J. Trump card.

“They will certainly use this as a weapon against us,” said Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas. “It does Biden’s good work. He did a hell of a job with vaccines. It kept us from the news we had. “

Biden’s government continued to apply a pandemic emergency rule to quickly expel single adults, who continued to make up the majority of those detained at the border in March. Immigrant attorneys criticized the rule as a violation of immigration laws that allow migrants to apply for asylum when they reach US soil.

The White House has spoken to at least one member of Congress about the possibility of deporting 16- and 17-year-olds to Mexico, according to one person familiar with the discussions.

The government has also focused its response on addressing the root causes of migration, appointing Vice President Kamala Harris to work with leaders in the region to boost Central America’s economy, and restarting an Obama-era program, which some children may apply to their home region for permission to live with a parent or other relative in the United States.