Reports: ACLU Seeks EZPass Through Border for Selected Migrants

Migrants, most of whom are part of a recently arrived caravan, stand in line for breakfast
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Edwin Mora
Washington, DC

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reportedly advocating for the Biden administration to grant U.S. entry to some of the “most vulnerable” migrant families referred by Mexican-based activist groups.

Pregnant women, sexual minorities, and those in need of medical attention are among the vulnerable people that would be given a fast pass through the U.S.-Mexico border.

Overlooked content in an April 30 Wall Street Journal article revealed the Biden administration lacks a formal process for selecting the families for U.S. entry, adding President Joe Biden would “likely” end up coordinating with the United Nations to develop formal procedures that may very well increase the number of families crossing the border.

The Journal reported:

Mexican nonprofit organizations have started referring about 35 migrant families a day to U.S. authorities to be allowed to cross the border and ask for asylum, said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. The families are tested for Covid-19 in Mexico and then driven to legal crossings all along the border, according to the people familiar with the process.

The families being selected to cross the border are considered to be among the most vulnerable migrants waiting in Mexico, including pregnant women, members of the LGBT community and those with medical emergencies. Many traveled from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, where high crime and poverty compounded by two hurricanes last year have driven many to flee.

According to the people with knowledge of the process, immigration authorities have not yet developed formal procedures for selecting families.

The Journal continued:

But in the coming weeks, a group of aid agencies working at the border is expected to create a more formalized process that is likely to involve coordination with the United Nations refugee agency and the U.S. government, those people said. That more-formal process is expected to expand to include larger numbers of families

While repeatedly stressing the border is closed to nonessential travel and asylum seekers, government officials told the Journal the Biden administration had been progressively allowing exceptions for some families and unaccompanied children.

Just this week, the Biden Administration loosened the Trump-era pandemic-related border policy (known as Title 42) to allow “vulnerable populations” such as transgender people to enter the U.S. and seek asylum.

The new change came after the administration said it had no immediate plans to repeal the emergency health order aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus.

Citing people familiar with the process and government data, the Journal provided insight on Biden’s plans to increasingly allow migrant families into the U.S. by easing the ban on asylum-seeking families crossing through official ports of entry implemented by the Trump folks at pandemic’s start.

The historic surge of migrants flooding the United States searching for refugee, asylum, or some other legal status appears to provide the Biden administration with a cover for bringing even more migrants into the U.S. while publicly claiming the border is primarily closed.

Members of both parties have blasted Biden for not developing a plan to deal with the border crisis. So far, the administration has only managed to find waivers or exceptions that allow them to bring in many migrants, mainly unaccompanied children, family units, and some adults.

At the behest of Mexico, which has gained leverage over Biden by offering to help defuse the U.S. border crisis, the U.S. administration could provide the new migrants with a pathway to citizenship.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard held a virtual meeting.

The two officials “discussed deepened collaboration on the development of regional approaches to irregular migration, including through the creation of legal pathways for migrants in the region,” a readout of the conversation issued by DHS revealed.

Mayorkas and Ebrard “also expressed a mutual desire to work together to create economic opportunities across the Western Hemisphere and combat unlawful activities such as human smuggling that threaten both countries’ national and economic security,” the DHS readout added.

On Tuesday, Mayorkas said borders should not be seen “as the lines that mark national boundaries and that divide us,” but rather “a point of connection” that unites us, seemingly in line with open borders ideology promoted by some leftists.

The DHS allows migrant families, unaccompanied children, and some adults into the U.S. while a crisis is raging at the United States-Mexico border that is overwhelming resources and personnel on the American side, forcing authorities to release many migrants into U.S. communities sometimes without coronavirus tests or court papers.

Republicans blame the crisis on Biden’s undoing of President Donald Trump’s deterrent immigration policies. The president denies the accusations, blaming Trump instead.

 

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