August 21, 2024

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Developments

Panama sent its first planeload of deportees from the Darién Gap under a new initiative supported by $6 million in U.S. government funding. About 30 Colombian adults, reportedly with criminal records, were repatriated aboard a plane to Medellín. One, according to the director of Panama’s migration agency, Roger Mojica, was an alleged sicario (hitman) for the Gulf Clan, the Colombian organized-crime group that controls territory at the entrance to the Darién route.

This official said that Panama is in talks with “Ecuador, India, and other nations” to coordinate deportation flights, but that there are no plans to return citizens of Venezuela—the majority of Darién migrants—due to a lack of diplomatic relations with Caracas. After passing through Darién reception sites, Venezuelans “are allowed to continue with the controlled flow,” said Mojica. (It is not clear, but this may mean that Colombia will not receive Venezuelans who have Temporary Protection Permit (PPT) documented status in Colombia.)

• “Primer Vuelo de Repatriacion de Migrantes Sale de Panama” (EFE, Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), August 20, 2024).
• “Brian A. Nichols @Whaasstsecty on Twitter” (Twitter, August 20, 2024).

The early July announcement of deportations and the new Panamanian government’s other efforts to limit Darién migration has caused a moderate pause in the flow of migration through Central America. 24,133 refugees and migrants transited Honduras in July, a 15 percent decrease from June, according to a monthly update from UNHCR.

Of 191 migrants interviewed by the UN agency in Honduras last month, 99 percent intended to stay in Honduras for less than a month (usually, less than a week). 68 percent cited “access to employment” as a reason for leaving, 32% cited a lack of documentation in the country where they had sought to settle, 39 percent cited “generalized violence and insecurity,” and 4 percent said they had been victims of violence, threats, or intimidation. (People leave for more than one reason, which is why the totals exceed 100 percent.)

• “Honduras- Mixed Movements Protection Monitoring- July 2024” (UN Refugee Agency, August 20, 2024).

The number of migrant remains Border Patrol has recovered in its El Paso Sector (New Mexico and the far western edge of Texas) stands at a record 164 so far in fiscal 2024 (since October 2023), Border Report reported. This is the fourth straight year in which the El Paso Sector has set a new record (39 in 2021, 71 in 2022, and 149 in 2023).

The death toll comes at a time when overall migration has dropped, but when new federal restrictions on asylum and a Texas state security buildup near downtown El Paso have incentivized more migration through nearby deserts. Deaths appear to be concentrated in areas that are a short drive from El Paso and other populations where water and first aid would be available.

• Julian Resendiz, “Migrant Death Toll Up to 164 in el Paso Region” (Border Report, August 20, 2024).

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data reported last Friday show that the agency seized 17,312 pounds of fentanyl during the first 10 months of fiscal 2024. Extended to 12 months, that would be 20,774 pounds: a 22 percent drop from 2023. This appears certain to be the first year in which border fentanyl seizures end up fewer than the previous year, since the drug began appearing in the mid-2010s.

• “Drug Seizure Statistics“ (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, August 16, 2024).

This Friday (August 23) is when asylum seekers in Mexico will begin being able to use the CBP One app from the southern states of Chiapas and Tabasco. Until now, the app, with which people can make appointments at U.S.-Mexico border ports of entry, has only functioned from Mexico City northward. Citizens of Mexico may use the app from anywhere in the country.

• “Cbp One™ Mobile Application – Recent Updates” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, August 20, 2024).

Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens tweeted that the agency has apprehended more than 63,000 “Special Interest Migrants” so far in fiscal 2024, 85 percent of them in its San Diego (California) sector.

The term refers to a person who “potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests” based on their travel patterns. The most common “travel pattern” is a migrant’s country of origin. Though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not publish a list of its “special interest” countries, most appear to be majority Islamic nations—like Jordan, which is named in Chief Owens’s tweet.

• “Chief Jason Owens @Usbpchief on Twitter” (Twitter, August 20, 2024).

A report from the DHS Inspector-General found that 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children were transferred to the custody of the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement from 2019 to 2023, which then turned most of them over to relatives or sponsors. During those years, more than 32,000 unaccompanied children “failed to appear for their immigration court hearings.”

• Management Alert – Ice Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released From Dhs and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody (Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Monday, August 19, 2024).
• Timothy h.j. Nerozzi, “Ice Lost Track of Tens of Thousands of Migrant Kids, Dhs Inspector General Finds” (Fox News, August 20, 2024).

Analyses and Feature Stories

“The contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump illustrates what an important issue border security has become in this year’s presidential election, as Democrats and Republicans alike respond to polls showing that a growing number of voters want to stem new arrivals,” reads a mid-Democratic Convention news analysis from Andrea Castillo at the Los Angeles Times. It notes many Democrats’ pivot “toward tougher border messaging.”

Trump will visit the border in southeast Arizona on Thursday, the day Harris accepts the Democratic nomination.

• Andrea Castillo, “On Immigration, Democrats at Convention Shift Message to Combat Gop Attacks” (The Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2024).

At the Border Chronicle, Melissa del Bosque published a tribute to Eddie Canales of the South Texas Human Rights Center (1948-2024), who passed away on July 31. Canales maintained water stations and assisted identification efforts in Brooks County, Texas, just north of the Rio Grande Valley border region, an area where dozens if not hundreds of remains are recovered each year.

A proper legacy for Eddie, del Bosque wrote, would be the establishment of a center in Texas to identify migrants’ remains and provide closure to their loved ones: “one centralized facility where state-mandated fingerprinting and DNA sampling can be undertaken, and the cases can be managed and people ultimately identified.”

• Melissa del Bosque, “A Visionary in the Borderlands” (The Border Chronicle, August 20, 2024).

On the Right

• Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee), “No, Biden and Harris’ Border Crisis Is Not Over” (Real Clear Politics, August 20, 2024).
• Ryan King, “Sen. Blackburn Rolls Out Resolution Condemning ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris” (The New York Post, August 20, 2024).
• Virginia Allen, “Allred vs. Cruz: 2 Opposing Visions for Texas’ Border With Mexico” (The Daily Signal, August 20, 2024).