EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The Border Patrol is dispelling a rumor that the U.S. border will be open again to all asylum-seekers starting on Tuesday.
The information is false and being spread by transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that profit from irregular migration and treat migrants like a commodity, federal officials told Border Report.
“The El Paso Sector of the Border Patrol would like to stress to migrants that nothing has changed. The U.S. border is not open to irregular migration,” the agency said in a statement Monday. The Border Patrol here and elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border “continues to apply consequences under Title 8 authority; those migrants that do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States will be placed in removal proceedings under Title 8.”
The Department of Homeland Security is requiring online appointments at designated ports of entry for asylum seekers through the CBP One app. Those who show up without appointments between ports of entry and are not deemed extremely vulnerable are subject to expedited removal and could be barred from re-entry for five years under Title 8.
“The U.S. Border Patrol in the El Paso Sector highly discourages migrants from attempting to illegally enter the United States. There are numerous risks involved with cruel smuggling practices that TCOs employ that can lead to injury and even death,” the Border Patrol said in a statement.
The number of migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border dropped substantially after the May 11 end of a Title 42 public health policy that led to quick expulsions of migrants coming in between ports of entry. The policy, however, did not prevent those expelled from trying again the next day.
The Title 8 policy as well as the Circumvention of Legal Pathways (or asylum travel ban, as activists call it) are being credited by federal officials and some immigration groups for the decline.
However, migrant smuggling activity remains constant in places like the desert of Southern New Mexico and some national news reports suggest migrant arrivals picked up by 30% in July.
In Juarez, Mexico, local news media are reporting that migrants are again arriving from Southern Mexico atop cargo trains, and that adult migrants are being forced to sleep outside the Leona Vicario federal shelter because the facility’s 650 beds are being occupied by families and minors.