Biden's border policies face new test as migrants gather under Texas bridge

WASHINGTON (SBG) — A sudden influx of migrants at a border crossing in central Texas has thrust fresh scrutiny on the Biden administration’s immigration policies, presenting new political and logistical challenges that experts say the White House has limited options to address.

As of Friday morning, more than 9,000 migrants were believed to be waiting under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas to be processed by Customs and Border Protection, with thousands more expected to arrive in the coming days. The numbers represent a massive increase from just days earlier, when only a few hundred people were staying under the Del Rio International Bridge.

The Department of Homeland Security has said many migrants will be expelled under Title 42 public health authority, butit could take weeks to process them all. Most of those who arrived this week are Haitians who have either fled the devastation of a recent earthquake and political instability or were already in Central America.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, whose district includes over 40% of the southern border, warned Del Rio lacks the infrastructure to handle this number of migrants, and conditions are deteriorating. After visiting the bridge Thursday, he called the situation “pure chaos.”

“What I saw today was as bad as I’ve ever seen it...,” Gonzales told KFOX. “Literally over 8,000 migrants under a bridge in the hot sun with limited resources waiting to be processed.”

Gonzales suggested the Biden administration’s recent decision to process and release several hundred Haitian migrants rather than deporting them spurred more people to come. Now that so many have successfully made the crossing in Del Rio, he expects cartels and smugglers will send even more.

“It’s like there is a bat symbol that’s going up, ‘Hey, make it to Del Rio, Texas and you’ll be let into America,’” he said.

CBP has increased manpower in the sector and is providing water, toilets, and other necessities for migrants as they await processing. Once they are transported to holding facilities, those who do not have a legal basis to stay in the country will either be sent to Mexico under Title 42 or placed in “expedited removal proceedings.”

The surge has heightened tensions between the Biden administration and the state and local governments. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that he was shutting down six points of entry at the request of CBP, but he later backtracked on that claim, accusing the administration of flip-flopping.

“The Biden administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan,” Abbott said. “I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to maintain their presence at and around ports of entry to deter crossings."

With thousands of adults, families, and unaccompanied children camped under the bridge trying to avoid the heat, local officials say the situation is unsustainable. Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Martinez urged the Biden administration to take more aggressive action.

“We're on our own,” Martinez said. “I think our federal government needs to finally make a decision and take a stand.”

However, experts say there might not be much the Biden administration can realistically do once migrants arrive at border crossings, other than accelerate processing. According to Mark Jones, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, the federal government has only a few options: process and detain them, process and release them into the U.S. with court dates that could be months or years away, deport them to their home country, or deport them to Mexico.

“The difficulty with the Mexican option is the Mexican government is increasingly resistant to allowing the U.S. to dump deportations on the Mexican side,” Jones said, adding that deportation to Haiti is logistically difficult at this time.

The Biden administration has struggled to get a handle on the border for months as crossings spiked. Border encounters dipped slightly last month, but they remain at historically high levels.

Republicans have blamed the surge on Biden’s reversal of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but Democrats point to many factors outside the White House’s control. The administration has focused on addressing root causes of migration and diplomatic engagement with Central American countries, but those efforts are unlikely to have much short-term impact.

“The number of people feeling the necessity to leave their homes in times of crisis around the world is not something that can be controlled or legislated, not even from the White House,” said Ernesto Castaneda, founding director of the Immigration Lab at American University.

Jones said the White House has sent mixed messages to migrants, with top officials imploring them not to come but also promising a more compassionate immigration system and relaxing policies that might have discouraged them. He noted a recent DHS decision to extend temporary protected status for Haitians already in the U.S. might have led some in Haiti to believe they would be protected, as well.

“The Trump administration had it easier, in that the Trump administration sent a message to potential asylum-seekers and migrants that you’re not welcome,” Jones said.

According to The New York Times, DHS plans to resume deportation flights to Haiti Monday, and officials hope that will dissuade others from making the trip. However, many families and children are expected to be released into the U.S. with court dates.

Potentially further complicating the response to the surge of migrants, a federal judge ruled Thursday that the Biden administration can no longer use Title 42 to expel migrant families without allowing them to seek asylum. Judge Emmet Sullivan stayed the ruling for 14 days, and the administration has not yet said whether it plans to appeal.

DHS had weighed ending Title 42 earlier this summer, but it opted to keep the Trump-era policy in place as the delta variant of COVID-19 spread. If Sullivan’s ruling stands, it could cut off reliance on a tool that has eased the strain on border resources but angered some Democrats and immigrant advocates.

“The U.S. is obligated by national and international law to process asylum-seekers, and the pandemic can no longer be used as an excuse to have them wait indefinitely in improvised camps in Mexico,” Castaneda said.

The administration is already reluctantly working to implement another court ruling requiring DHS to reinstate Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that forced migrants to stay in Mexico while their court cases are pending. Heading into the fall, Jones sees little reason to expect border crossings, or the political pressure that comes with them, to relent.

“For the Biden administration, it’s a no-win situation,” Jones said. “The only way the Biden administration wins is if [the migrants] aren’t there.”