Borders/Immig

Militia Members Indicted for Conspiracy to Murder Border Patrol Officers, Illegal Immigrants
Two members of the self-styled 2nd American Militia who conspired to go “to war with border patrol” have been indicted two weeks ago by a federal grand jury on charges related to a conspiracy to murder Border Patrol officers and kill illegal immigrants crossing the border. The plot was thwarted by a shootout with FBI agents who arrested them.
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Lifting Title 42 Restrictions Didn’t Result in Surge of Migration, After All – but Border Communities Are Still Facing Record-Breaking Migration
There were widespread predictions that there would be a surge of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2023, when Title 42 COVID-related restrictions were lifted. There was no surge, but even without it, migration across the U.S-Mexico border continues to trend upward and remains at record-breaking levels.
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Open Questions, Legal Hurdles for Biden’s New Border Rule
The Biden administration announced on May 16 a new border rule that creates new pathways for lawful entry and limits access to asylum for unauthorized entrants. Shalini Bhargava Ray writes that the rule takes important steps to create alternatives to unauthorized entry for those seeking refuge, but serious questions remain about the viability and practical accessibility of those pathways.
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Texas Senate Approves Creation New Immigration Enforcement Unit, Allow State Police to Arrest for Border Crossings
The House has already passed the bill, but the two chambers will need to iron out the differences in their versions before it is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott. It’s the most sweeping of a Republican package of bills that aims to stiffen the state’s response to a record number of crossings at Texas’ southern border.
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Labor Trafficking in the United States
In 2020, DHS developed a strategy to guide its efforts to curb trafficking worldwide. Principally, the strategy calls for improving the identification and reporting of suspected trafficking. Questions about the current state of research on U.S. labor trafficking and future research needs need to be answered as the initial step in building a research agenda focused on labor trafficking.
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Title 42 Ends as Migrants Lined Up and Border Cities Braced for the Unknown
Long lines formed again next to the border wall in El Paso — a scene repeated in other parts of the southern border — as migrants anticipated the end of a policy that has allowed immigration agents to quickly expel them.
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Seeking Protection: How the U.S. Asylum Process Works
Record numbers of migrants seeking to cross the southern U.S. border are challenging the Biden administration’s attempts to restore asylum protections. Here’s how the asylum process works.
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Confusion Reigns at US-Mexico Border as Title 42 Expires
Title 42, the emergency health order used during the COVID-19 pandemic at the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly expel migrants back to Mexico or to their home country, ends Thursday night at midnight. Some border analysts say about 150,000 people are waiting to enter the U.S., but DHS says the majority of them will be expelled if they cross into the United States.
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U.S. Unveils New Border Restriction Ahead of Thursday’s Title 42 Expiration
The Biden administration announced today (Wednesday) new restrictions which affect migrants who attempt to cross into the United States without authorization. The restrictions are part of a plan for the end of Title 42, a 2020 COVID-19 related measure which allowed CBP to quickly expel migrants without giving them the chance to seek U.S. asylum. Title 42 expires on Thursday.
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Texas House Republicans Revive Border Policing Unit in Early-Morning Vote
The proposed unit would let those who are not law officers arrest or detain suspected undocumented immigrants in border-region counties.
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Biden’s Resurrection of Emergency Powers at the Southern Border
The Biden administration’s decision to send 1,500 active-duty troops to the border shows the striking similarity between Biden’s and Trump’s approach at least in one respect their willingness to use “law (both emergency and non-emergency powers) to sustain the continued deployment of thousands of military personnel at the southern border,” Chris Mirasola writes. “[E]asy access to any component of the Defense Department appears to be turning into a new normal, made available under shifting but substantially similar emergency declarations,” he adds.
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Improving Capabilities of Portable Drug Detection Systems
DHS S&T and partners are working to improve their ability to identify different narcotics, like fentanyl. Narcotics detection systems libraries will be enhanced via the collection of data on approximately 50 restricted substances, primarily related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, that are scheduled and controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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Why Are Active-Duty Troops Being Sent to U.S.-Mexico Border?
The Biden administration is sending 1,500 active-duty military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border. The troops will support U.S. Customs and Border Protection efforts on the border for about 90 days.
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U.S. in a Massive Crackdown on Darknet Fentanyl Trafficking
In a massive global crackdown on fentanyl trafficking on the darknet, U.S. law enforcement agencies and their international partners announced Tuesday the arrests of nearly 300 suspects and seizure of a large cache of drugs, cash, virtual currency and weapons.
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Lithuania Legalizes Border Pushbacks
Lithuania enacted the so-called pushbacks in law, which allows border guards to push back border crossers – that is, push them back across the border – if they do not have the right papers. The move has been heavily criticized, but it is not without precedent in the EU.
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