Since May and the end of Title 42—a Trump-era border enforcement policy that allowed immediate expulsion of people crossing into the US without documents—there has been an almost 70% decrease in the number of illegal entries reported by the United States Border Patrol. However, that does not mean that the number of migrants entering the US has dramatically decreased because the Biden administration is now offering legal options for many of those people. Around 43,000 migrants and asylum seekers are now able to enter the US by using the CBP One App to secure appointments with customs officials. In addition, another 30,000 people from Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia are able to enter through a process of parole.
Initially, people could use CBP One to get appointments at entry ports in Brownsville, El Paso, Eagle Pass, Hidalgo, and Laredo, Texas, Calexico and San Ysidro, California, and Nogales, Arizona. But in June, CBP officials in Laredo stopped using the mobile app to take appointments to admit asylum seekers because migrants on the Mexican side in Nuevo Laredo were being threatened by criminal organizations with demands of extortion.
The US Port of Entry at Douglas does not use the CBP One app for migrants seeking asylum. However, they are admitting a few families—mostly Mexican—who request asylum. Community Peacemaker Team reservists, wearing vests with the words “APOYO A MIGRANTES” or “support for migrants,” are now accompanying those families from CAME, the migrant shelter in Agua Prieta, Mexico, to the port of entry and facilitating transportation for them to reach their destinations in the US. Because of the lack of transparency of CBP, it is not known how many people the Port will accept in a day or in a week. It is not known if other asylum seekers are presenting themselves at the Port and if any of them have paid the cartel for safe access to the Port. So far, it is not known how the cartel will react as families continue to present themselves at the Port. It is not known the potential danger to the families or to the accompaniers.
- Pray for the migrant families that they have the courage to continue their journeys. May they know peace of mind and clarity of purpose. Help them find support from all those people who have helped them on their way. Keep them safe in the face of danger.
- Pray for the CPT accompaniers who have joined the migrants on a small part of their journey. May they know peace of mind and clarity of purpose. Help them find support from those who have helped them in their work. Keep them safe in the face of danger.
