Inside hellish migrant camp at California border
Troubling new images reveal the hellish conditions of a makeshift camp on the California side of the US-Mexico border, where migrants and their kids huddled in garbage bags, begging for food.
The trash-strewn encampment — which popped up between a primary and secondary border wall in San Ysidro, hastily arranged by Border Patrol — is filled with people who were hoping to take advantage of the Biden administration’s end to the pandemic-era Title 42 and gain legal entry into the US.
Since that expired and has been replaced with tougher new measures, their future became uncertain.
Video shot by a migrant for The Post at 10 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday — an hour after the health-based regulation expired — showed scores of people huddled under black trash bags and tarps which they had attached along the bottom of the razor-wire-topped border wall.
Other somber migrants without a spot along the wall sprawled out on blankets on the dusty ground on the hill a few feet away, some splitting open garbage bags to put over themselves to keep warm.
The number of children in the group is increasing, volunteers told The Post.
US agents handed out water to the migrants but nothing else, leaving the masses begging volunteers for food and extra garbage bags to wrap themselves in to keep warm from temps which dipped into the 50s overnight, observers said.
Some migrants were also desperately asking journalists on the other side of the barrier to help them charge their cell phones.
The migrants have been given colored wristbands by the US authorities — including some that were blue, red and green — and told that depending on the color, they would be taken to a processing center on that day.
But at least some of the migrants said they were already told different days by different people, and many were still waiting to learn when buses might come.
Confusion also reigned along the border in El Paso, Texas.
Texas National Guardsmen on the Mexico side of the border turned away a group of migrants, many young children, late Thursday without allowing them to surrender to US authorities.
“Go back to the Mexican checkpoint or go back through the hole you crawled through [in the razor wire},’’ a guardsman told the migrants in the darkness. “Those are your two options.’’
The migrants pleaded with the authorities to let them cross into the US at least to seek asylum, to no avail.
“They’re telling us we have to go back,” a migrant told The Post through shouted questions from the other side of the international boundary.
“We’ve been walking for two and a half hours to get here after crossing over.”
On the US side of the El Paso crossing, at Gate 42, three buses filled with migrants were eventually let through.
What is Title 42 and what does its end mean for US border immigration?
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a federal health measure enforced by the US Border Patrol. It allows the agency to kick certain migrants out of the US and return them to Mexico. This includes asylum seekers, who under international law have the legal right to make an asylum claim in America.
Currently, migrants who cross the border illegally and who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua or Venezuela are subject to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
How did Title 42 start?
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue the policy. The Trump administration made the case that keeping migrants out of the country would slow down the spread of infections and maintain the safety of federal agents encountering migrants.
What has happened with Title 42 under Biden?
When President Biden took over, he continued to enforce Title 42 with one important change from his predecessor. Biden said Border Patrol agents were only allowed to expel migrants from certain countries under his direction. That meant migrants seeking asylum from countries like Cuba and Venezuela could still seek asylum if they arrived at the border and stay in the US while their cases were decided in court — unless they had a criminal record.
What is happening with Title 42 now?
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy, not an immigration law. It will end at 11:59 p.m. May 11, when the Biden administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Why is it controversial?
Many have called for the policy’s end, saying it’s illegal and that international law guarantees people the right to seek asylum.
Others, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, warn that the southern border could see up to 13,000 migrants per day crossing with the intention to stay in the country when the measure ends.
What would the end of Title 42 mean for immigration into the US?
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been expelled under Title 42 because there have been scores of people who have attempted to enter the country numerous times and been rejected again and again, but the US Border Patrol said it made an all-time high of more than 2.3 million arrests at the border in the last fiscal year. Forty percent of people who were expelled from the country were ejected under the rules of Title 42.
“They will be processed now under Title 8 authority,” a CBP official said, referring to the previous immigration statute.
“If they have sufficient evidence that they have credible fear or they’re seeking asylum because of a danger to their life, then they will be given a court date and a notice to appear before an immigration judge,” the official said.
“They’re trying to get the initial hearing within 30 days.”
At the San Ysidro encampment, there was a handful of US Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security officers on either side of the dividing line.
Tensions rose in the minutes before the end of Title 42 — as the supplies brought in by volunteers, including coveted socks and blankets, dwindled.
The migrants had organized according to where they were from — including Latin America, Jamaica, Afghanistan and eastern Asia — and elected “captains’’ to represent them when it came to collecting supplies and distributing them.
As the free-sock supply dried up, all hell nearly broke loose between the Jamaican and Latin America “captains.’’
Then a young man held his hand up and said, “Stop! We are all one people!” and the argument subsided.
The Biden Administration tweaked the rules at the last minute to try to curb post-Title 42 chaos. Under the changes, those who cross the border and immediately claim asylum are supposed to prove they fear for their lives in their home countries and tried but failed to get help from the country they traveled through to get here.
If they make it past that step, they would be released into the US as their asylum application winds its way through the courts — a process that could take years.
Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy
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