Live updates: Bus of migrants arrives at VP Harris’ residence

CBP orders area by the border to be ‘cleaned up’

JUAREZ — U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso ordered migrants who had been staying near Gate 40 on the Mexico-U.S. border to clear up all debris in the area.

“We want everything cleaned up,” a CBP officer screamed at the people who had been lying down on cardboard and blankets overnight.

Visibly armed U.S. military personnel were asking people to line up. 

About 200 migrants were present at the time.

200 people a day are being bused to Denver

About 200 people from the southern border have been transported to Denver daily in the last six days, city officials said yesterday. 

The city said it processed more than 370 new migrants Tuesday — up from roughly 20 to 30 people per day for most of March and April. 

Denver said it has served more than 8,800 migrants since Dec. 9. Almost 1,000 are in four emergency shelters that are at near-capacity, officials said, adding that Denver is working to provide temporary shelter and transportation to those newly arrived. 

What immigration has to do with lower housing prices

New home construction is key to unlocking lower housing prices.

But the rate of this type of construction has fallen month to month since last March, and experts say tough immigration policies that have shrunk the construction workforce are behind the building squeeze.

Nationally, foreign-born people make up 30% of construction workers, data from the Census Bureau shows, making immigrants a key part of the home building puzzle.

But against a backdrop of tightened immigration policies instituted during the Trump administration and exacerbated during the pandemic, the number of foreign workers entering the construction industry has almost fallen in half. There were more than 67,000 new workers in 2016, compared to 38,900 in 2020.

Read the full story, about how dwindling immigration is putting the squeeze on home building, here.

Arizona officials call for federal emergency declaration to help with increase of migrants

Julie Tsirkin

Five officials representing Arizona communities along the U.S.-Mexico border have called for a federal emergency declaration to help with an expected increase in migrants after Title 42 expires.

Mayors from almost every single border town, including Yuma, Somerton, Nogales, Douglas and San Luis, said “it is not sustainable long-term” to handle the influx of migrants without federal assistance. 

A disaster declaration would cut any “red tape” and enable the flow of federal assistance under the Federal Emergency Management Agency to affected states. The Biden administration has not indicated whether it would approve such a declaration, but other areas along the southern border, including El Paso, Texas, have already begun to declare their own states of emergency.  

“I think at this point, we should really put on the table an emergency declaration,” progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Gallego launched a bid against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who has yet to reveal her own 2024 plans. Sinema, along with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, unveiled a bipartisan proposal that would give the Biden administration authority to extend Title 42 without using the public health emergency. That bill is not expected to pass before the measure expires.

A Republican bill to fund border security and immigration reform is expected to move through the House today, but is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate.

Bus of migrants arrives at VP Harris’ residence

A bus carrying more than 30 migrants arrived outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in northwest Washington, D.C., this morning.

Many of those on the bus said they came from Venezuela. The bus is among the first to arrive in Washington from the Texas border in months, hours before Title 42 is set to be lifted tonight.

The bus was filled with men, women and children, who were met with volunteers from SAMU First Response and Mutual Aid. They were loaded onto another charter bus, heading to what NBC News was told is a “place of refuge” to get their needs triaged and to figure out next steps.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, last week vowed to continue busing migrants to Democratic cities while blaming the Biden administration for what he described as an untenable flow of migrants. Arizona has also continued busing migrants to Washington, coordinating more closely with local D.C. officials to do so.

Immigration officials unveil expedited process for families with credible fear claims

Immigration officials announced a new process for families apprehended at the southwest border who are eligible for expedited removal and indicate they will seek asylum or express a fear of persecution or torture if they are deported to their home countries.

The Family Expedited Removal Management process will impose a curfew and provide heads of households with GPS ankle monitors for tracking purposes.

The program is designed to ensure that families with credible fear claims appear before immigration judges in a timely manner without being detained. Families whose claims are rejected will be removed from the U.S. within 30 days, officials said.

New arrivals urged to turn themselves in to immigration officials

EL PASO, Texas — Outside a homeless shelter in downtown El Paso, where hundreds of migrants have been camping out in recent weeks, fear and confusion hung in the air.

Men, women and children gathered under white Red Cross tarps that offered shade from the brutal 90-degree weather, sitting on cots and pieces of flat cardboard topped with donated sheets.

“I really don’t know what to do. I’m so afraid to turn myself in and get deported … I just want to be able to move forward and find my family,” said José, 41, who migrated from Venezuela and has been staying outside the Opportunity Center for the Homeless.

Read the full story here.

Here are new Biden immigration policies to expect as Title 42 ends

Here are some of the policies and requirements the Biden administration is using or has announced it plans to use as Title 42 ends tonight:

• Replace Title 42 with Title 8, the section of the U.S. law dealing with immigration and nationality that was used at the borders before the pandemic.
• Require anyone who wants to apply for asylum to make an appointment through the CBP One phone app. The number of appointments available per day through the app expands from about 800 to about 1,000, and appointments can be made 23 hours a day.

Read about the rest of the policies here.

Why is there talk about ‘lifting’ Title 42?

The Biden administration had repeatedly sought to end the policy, but its plans were delayed by legal challenges from Republican states’ attorneys general. The pandemic waned, making the public health order that led to using Title 42 moot, and the Supreme Court canceled arguments in the case. Another administration effort to unwind the policy had been blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana.

Read the full story here.