An international bridge between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
Here’s a rundown of immigration and other news from the Texas border and beyond. Look out for a weekly recap from reporters at Texas’ public radio stations.
Some ‘Vulnerable’ Migrants Allowed To Cross Border
The Biden administration is ramping up exceptions to a public health order issued at the start of the pandemic that has closed the U.S.-Mexico border to most migrants and asylum seekers.
NPR reports that a growing number of asylum seekers are being granted “humanitarian exceptions” to the policy known as Title 42 which allows immigration officials to turn away or quickly expel migrants at the border.
Reports of unaccompanied migrant children being forced to stay overnight in parked buses at the Dallas convention center are completely unacceptable if true, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Friday. Dr. Amy Cohen, a psychiatrist and executive director of the advocacy group Every Last One, said a 15-year-old Honduran boy she is working with was held on a bus from Saturday to Wednesday, using the bus bathroom during that time and unable to move about freely or communicate with family. The boy encountered at least three other children who were held as long in the parking lot of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, said Cohen, who also has been in contact with another child who was confined earlier to a bus for an extended period.
The boy, Joel, came from Honduras to be reunited with his mother, Doris, and his uncle, Elvin, in Washington, NBC News reported.
Joel called Doris and Elvin on Saturday night from a bus in the Dallas parking lot, according to NBC News. Doris and Elvin were told by a Health and Human Services employee to stay by the phone for directions to pick Joel up on Monday, when he would be taken to Washington.
Doris and Elvin did not hear from Joel or HHS until Tuesday afternoon, when Joel called them from a friend s phone while still in the parking lot in Dallas.
The White House is investigating reports of unaccompanied teenagers who were apprehended at the U.S./Mexico border being held in buses outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Downtown Dallas for extended periods of time.