The Biden administration’s plan to delay undoing policies that President Trump implemented to deter migration to the southern border will only delay a migration surge, not prevent it, says the outgoing top U.S. border official.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner Tuesday, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said that while he was happy to learn that President-elect Joe Biden’s team abandoned its immediate plan to gut Trump’s Remain in Mexico program, which requires asylum-seekers to live in Mexico while they await appearances in U.S. immigration court, Biden’s plan will not hold up to reality.
“All’s he’s done, really, you know, is kick the crisis can down the road six months,” said Morgan. “Whatever time, you know, Title 42 goes way, [Migrant Protection Protocols] goes away, that that’s when we’re going to see the crisis 2.0.”
Title 42 is the process by which Border Patrol agents can immediately expel out of the United States adults arrested for trespassing. It was implemented this spring at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following concerns that the coronavirus could spread rapidly throughout the dozens of Border Patrol holding stations where people are held before being transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities for longer-term detention. Migrants are returned to Mexico within hours and are not given due process. Biden said the process would be upheld when he takes office but eventually ended.
The MPP, the official name for the Remain in Mexico policy, was rolled out in early 2019 in an effort to block asylum-seekers who sought protection at ports of entry or were arrested on charges of illegally crossing the border from being taken into federal custody. Because asylum claims take years to be decided and the government is not allowed to hold families in custody more than 20 days, last year’s surge of 475,000 migrants who arrived with a family member forced authorities to release 375,000 people directly into the country, most of whom did not claim asylum but overwhelmed the system and were unable to be deported.
Incoming Biden officials revealed last week that they will spend the first six months of his administration planning how it can send more asylum officers, which are not federal law enforcement so that when his administration ends MPP next summer, the government has enough staff in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and California to process claims quickly. Immigration judges must decide claims, but the system has more than 1 million immigration claims waiting to be heard and fewer than 500 judges nationwide.
Over the past 21 days, Border Patrol has arrested an average of 2,500 people daily, putting it on track to apprehend more people in December than November.
“Even though 2,500 a day’s crisis numbers, it doesn’t feel like a crisis because we have the authorities to effectively address it,” said Morgan, referring to how agents immediately return people to Mexico without booking them. “If you take away those authorities, that 2,500 per day becomes a crisis almost overnight because now, we’re bringing them in our facilities. Our facilities are going to be overcrowded once again.”
“If you take away the ability to go — to have them wait in Mexico while we’re doing that, then where do we hold them?” said Morgan. “We’re not going to be able to take them through that whole [court] process in 20 days. It’s just not going to happen.”
Further complicating the issue is the coronavirus pandemic. ICE has released more than 30% of its detained population since March, and several judges nationwide have banned the federal facilities from holding more than half of its normal capacity.
“The only end result would be to reinstate catch and release,” said Morgan. “That means we’re going to be right back in 2019. We’re going to be dropping people off at bus stops. We’re going to be dropping people off at immigration — NGO immigration shelters along the border.”
Nonprofit organizations could be affected by worsening economic conditions and in less of a position to assist thousands of migrants being released in border communities on a weekly basis, while some states and cities may force nonprofit organizations to limit bedspace in congregate settings because of the pandemic.
Biden announced last week that he would begin in July winding down the MPP in an effort to avoid a surge of “2 million people on our border.”
President Barack Obama appointed Morgan, a former FBI agent, in August 2016 to oversee Border Patrol, which is under CBP. He was confirmed in October 2016 and then fired by Trump in early 2017. Trump rehired Morgan to head ICE and later moved him to CBP. Despite his time in the Obama administration, Morgan told the Washington Examiner that he will be leaving the Department of Homeland Security when the Trump administration concludes in less than three weeks.
“Come Jan. 20, I’ll be moving on,” said Morgan. “There are times where some politicals will transition over [to] the next administration, but generally, that’s rare. And so, I definitely don’t see myself fall into that position.”
