Border Patrol forced to restart 'catch-and-release' of illegals at border

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/27/border-patrol-forced-restart-catch-and-release/

CBP chief says 'breaking point has arrived'

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, March 27, 2019

The Border Patrol will have to restart a policy of catch-and-release at the border, the top border officer said Wednesday, saying there’s not enough bed space to hold them and, under the law, they can’t be immediately sent back.

Kevin K. McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said things have gotten so bad that more than 100,000 illegal immigrants will be nabbed at the border in March alone. Those are levels that haven’t been seen in more than a decade, and the current situation is worse because the migrants are exploiting loopholes that make it almost impossible to oust them, Mr. McAleenan said.

He said that means that the Border Patrol will, for the first time since the Bush administration, actually be directly releasing illegal immigrants into the communities — a policy agents call “catch-and-release,” and which they consider an embarrassing black mark on their duties.

“For the first time in over a decade, CBP is performing direct releases of migrants,” he told reporters in a press conference at the border fence in El Paso, Texas.

Mr. McAleenan said the surge of illegal immigrants is so big, and they are seeing so many sick people, that in some areas 40 percent of Border Patrol agents’ time is being spent driving illegal immigrants to and from processing centers, taking them to clinics or babysitting them while they undergo care.

That takes them off the border, where they’re no longer able to patrol, he said.

He announced a stopgap solution of pulling 750 officers from the ports of entry, where they scan legal traffic for contraband drugs and smuggled people, and deploying them to help the Border Patrol care for migrants. He said that should get agents back on the line, but it will mean rougher times at the legal crossings.

“That breaking point has arrived this week at our border,” Mr. McAleenan said.

Restarting catch-and-release is a devastating admission for the Border Patrol.

President Trump has repeatedly bragged that he ended the practice.

Yet Homeland Security officials have said it’s quietly been ramping up in recent months as the numbers at the border have surged.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2019/03/28/border-patrol-begins-releasing-migrants-yuma/3301641002/

Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic Published 1:38 p.m. MT March 28, 2019 | Updated 12:44 p.m. MT March 29, 2019

U.S. Border Patrol officials in Arizona said they have started releasing migrant families from their custody into the streets of Yuma because processing centers can't cope with the large numbers of arriving families and minors.

Community groups in the Yuma area have set up temporary facilities to house the families and to provide food and shelter while they assist migrants with travel plans to leave the border city.

The Border Patrol issued a statement Thursday announcing its decision, which followed the lead of officials in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, who last week began releasing families from their custody.

"U.S. Border Patrol processing centers are not designed to house the current numbers of families and small children that we are encountering," the Border Patrol's Yuma sector said in a written statement. "Due to capacity issues at our stations and the ongoing humanitarian crisis nationwide, Border Patrol has begun identifying detainees for potential release in Yuma with a notice to appear for their immigration hearings."

In a news conference on Thursday afternoon, Carl Landrum, the Yuma sector's deputy chief, explained Border Patrol made the decision as a dramatic surge in migrant families and minors overwhelmed their resources and holding spaces.

According to the latest government statistics, in the first five months of the fiscal year, agents in Yuma have apprehended 17,578 migrants traveling as a family. By contrast, in that same time period last year, they encountered 5,319 migrants. That's a 330 percent increase and does not include rising numbers of unaccompanied minors and other single-adult migrants.

The sector is on track to apprehend a total of 60,000 migrants, Landrum said. Those are the highest levels since 2007, when the installation of additional border fencing began to reduce the number of migrants crossing through Yuma.

Landrum added the sector has the capacity to hold 400 migrants at its processing center and three patrol stations in the sector, but that the facilities were designed to hold single adults for short periods.

With a vast majority of apprehensions consisting of Central American families and minors claiming asylum, they cannot be deported right away, so they remain in custody longer.

That's why they decided to begin releasing families, he said. Those eligible for release are migrant families who are released into the custody of relatives living in the United States and who have undergone medical screenings.

“It’ll continue right now, there is not an end date established," he said about the releases in Yuma. "Until we can actually maintain the capacity … We've been overcapacity about 200 percent for the past two years.”

Temporary facilities to house migrants

Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls also talked about the impact of these releases during Thursday's news conference. He said the Border Patrol could release up to 200 migrants into his community each day.

The decision prompted nonprofit groups in the Yuma area to "create a plan of action for a humanitarian response,"' he said. That plan included opening temporary facilities to house migrants and to help them arrange for transportation after their release.

But that effort has limitations, Nicholls said.

“The full capacity of the (nonprofit groups) in Yuma cannot address the full volume of migrants, should the volume increase as projected,” he warned.

Normally, once the Border Patrol apprehends migrants, the agency is legally obligated to detain them for no more than 72 hours and then transfer them into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Flights across the US are delayed after a major IT outage hit at least 5 airlines

Flights at US airports across the country are delayed because of an IT failure affecting at least five airlines, the FAA has said. Southwest Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Air …

Business Insider5m

Dozens of flights have been delayed after the FAA said several major airlines are experiencing an IT issue which is causing delays.

The affected airlines include Southwest Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines.

Flights at US airports across the country are delayed because of an IT failure affecting at least five airlines, the FAA has said.

Southwest Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Air are affected, and delays are expected, the authority told CBS.

Some of those airlines told passengers on Twitter that an IT failure was to blame.

Southwest Airlines said on Twitter that they have been told the technical issue delaying their flights has now been resolved.

Cholera outbreak after cyclone in Mozambique is now a killer

Beira, Mozambique – Mozambique's cyclone-hit city of Beira has confirmed its first death from cholera, as the number of cases of the disease has jumped to 517. To control the outbreak emergency clinics have been set up across Beira, a city of 500,000, said Mozambican national health director Ussene Isse, according to broadcaster TVM.

Cases of the acute diarrheal disease have risen dramatically since the first five cases were confirmed last week. Cyclone Idai severely damaged the water system for Beira, a city of 500,000, when it hit on March 14.

Some 900,000 cholera vaccine doses were set to arrive on Monday, according to the World Health Organization.

Cholera is spread by contaminated water and food. It can kill within hours but is relatively easy to treat.

The overall cyclone death toll in Mozambique is now 518. With 259 deaths in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi, the three-nation death toll is more than 815.

Authorities warn the tolls are preliminary as flood waters recede and reveal more bodies.

Rush to get help in

The Chinese government has sent doctors and emergency workers to fight the cholera outbreak in Beira and Chinese aid workers sprayed anti-cholera disinfectant in parts of the port city.

The U.S. military joined the international humanitarian aid efforts to Mozambique by airlifting food and relief supplies from South Africa.

Round-the-clock flights are delivering supplies from the U.N. World Food Program from King Shaka International Airport in Durban, South Africa, said Robert Mearkle, U.S. embassy spokesman.

He said the commodities airlifted from Durban were from the World Food Program's internal stock.

"Separately from these shipments, the United States has provided nearly $3.4 million in additional funding for the World Food Program to deliver approximately 2,500 metric tons of rice, peas, and vegetable oil to affected people in Sofala, Zambezia, and Manica provinces," said Mearkle. "This lifesaving emergency food assistance will support approximately 160,000 people for one month."

Cholera spreads "extremely fast"

Beira's crowded, poor neighborhoods are especially at risk. Doctors Without Borders has said it is seeing some 200 likely cholera cases per day in the city, where relief workers are hurrying to restore the damaged water system and bring in additional medical assistance.

A medical staff member wears a protective mask as he assists a man arriving at a cholera treatment centre set up in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in Beira

A medical staff member wears a protective mask as he assists a man arriving at a cholera treatment center set up in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambique, March 29, 2019. REUTERS

Cholera is a major concern for the hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in the southern African nation now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes. Some drink from contaminated wells or filthy, stagnant water.

As health responders stress the need for better disease surveillance, the United Nations' deputy humanitarian coordinator in Mozambique, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, has said all cases of diarrhea are being treated as though they are cholera.

Cholera is endemic to the region, and "it breaks out fast and it travels extremely fast," he told reporters.

Doctors Without Borders has said other suspected cholera cases have been reported outside Beira in the badly hit areas of Buzi, Tica and Nhamathanda but the chance of spread in rural areas is smaller because people are more dispersed.

Mozambican officials have said Cyclone Idai destroyed more than 50 health centers in the region, complicating response efforts.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region.

Reminds me of this article

Haiti Cholera: A Biological Weapon For Organ Trafficking?

July 18, 2017 Leave a Comment Written by Ezili Dantò

https://ezilidanto.com/2017/07/haiti-cholera-a-biological-weapon-for-organ-trafficking/

Mexico to issue visas to migrants

By AMY GUTHRIE Associated Press 53 min ago

https://www.avpress.com/mexico-to-issue-visas-to-migrants/article_536ae2f6-5438-11e9-aa5d-2bf0dfc52c63.html

MEXICO CITY — Mex­ican immigration officials plan to issue humanitarian visas on a “limited basis” starting today to some of the roughly 2,500 Central American and Caribbean migrants gathered in the southern state of Chiapas.

The National Migration Institute said Sunday it will give priority to women, children and those over the age of 65 “whose situation merits” such visas. The authority said it would also provide bus transportation back to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras for citizens of those countries, and air transport home to migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.

The statement came as President Donald Trump threatens to close U.S. bor­der crossings with Mex­ico unless the country pre­vents thousands of Central Am­erican migrants from reach­ing the U.S. border, where they either cross stealthily or request asylum.

U.S. law does not require asylum seekers to present themselves at an official U.S. crossing, and many request asylum after having already entered the U.S.

With a backlog of more than 700,000 immigration cases, asylum seekers can wait years for their cases to progress, and are often released in the meantime to live in the United States.

Mexico appears to be tiring of the migrant car­a­vans and eager not to anger the United States. It has stopped granting migrants humanitarian visas at the border, and towns along the well-traveled route through southern Mexico sometimes no longer allow caravans to spend the night. Fewer private citizens are offering food and rides to the weary travelers.

A U.S.-Mexico border shut­down would be a major blow for commerce.

The U.S. and Mexico trade about $1.7 billion in goods daily, according to the U.S. Chamber of Com­merce, which said clo­sing the border would be “an unmitigated economic deb­acle” that would threaten five million American jobs.

Starting in the second half of May, Mexico’s im­mig­ration institute said Sun­day the country will issue humanitarian visas in the capitals of El Sal­va­dor, Guatemala and Hon­dur­as — as well as in San Pedro Sula, Honduras — “for cases that merit this con­dition.” Also, from those cit­ies, Mexico will continue to issue temporary work visas for Central Americans wish­ing to live and work in southern Mexico.

Why the big space in Potus tweet?