NRC starts special inspection of New Mexico uranium facility - Associated Press
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday began a special inspection at the Urenco USA uranium enrichment facility in southeastern New Mexico following an incident last month.
NRC officials said the April 21 incident involved the operation of a crane near a building that handles uranium hexafluoride without the required safety controls present.
They said there are concerns about safety protocols at the site and that warrants additional NRC inspection as it involves a breakdown of controls designed to prevent chemical, radiological and criticality hazards, which are the primary concern at U.S. fuel cycle facilities.
Two similar events last year at the Urenco USA facility prompted the NRC to propose a $70,000 civil penalty.
Inspectors from the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta are at the Urenco USA plant for the next days.
They plan to assess the effectiveness of previous corrective actions taken by the facility to implement safety controls during construction activities and evaluate the appropriateness of the company's overall response.
The inspection team will document their findings and conclusions in a public report that's usually issued within 45 days of the inspection's completion.
Indigenous missing person cases get researchers' attention - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A New Mexico task force charged with addressing missing person cases involving Native Americans is teaming up with researchers in Nebraska on a data collection project that they hope will begin to close the gaps when it comes to tracking cases and their outcomes nationwide.
The goal of the federally funded effort is to better define the scope of what many experts and activists have referred to as a "silent crisis." The work began last week, said Melody Delmar, special projects coordinator with the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department.
One of the challenges for policymakers across Indian Country has been the lack of a consistent and sustainable system for reporting and tracking such cases. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Omaha will be using a model first developed for that state to address data collection across multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.
It was only last year that the FBI started publishing a list of Indigenous people missing in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. That list took six months to compile by validating different databases, and Delmar said this next phase of research will build on those efforts and help to guide future policymaking.
"While we're working at the higher levels of government and at my level — policy work on the ground level — we know that people are still going missing. So we're moving full steam ahead," she said.
The U.S. Justice Department's research and evaluation arm is funding the New Mexico project with a grant worth nearly $250,000. In all, the National Institute of Justice awarded six grants totaling nearly $5 million for research that could help curb violence against women.
Indigenous families, activists and advocacy groups gathered last Friday and over the weekend to bring more attention to the disproportionate number of tribal community members who have gone missing or have been killed in North America. While past studies have shown homicide and violence rates are exponentially higher for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the number of missing and slain Indigenous women remains unknown.
A 2022 congressional research report highlights jurisdictional overlaps among tribal, local, state and federal police forces as a top challenge, aside from the lack of data.
In New Mexico, the state Department of Public Safety became the first agency in the United States to allow reporting agencies to identify Indigenous people and their respective tribes, pueblos, or nations. That was made possible when the department modified its National Crime Information Center.
Delmar and others who are working on the issue say the next step for New Mexico will be consideration of an alert system for when Indigenous people go missing, like systems being developed in California and now Oklahoma.
"It's about identifying what other missing pieces are there," she said. "And I think this is an important part, when we get done going through the research, that will help inform what kind of effective legislation we can improve on and work on."
Nationally, the Urban Indian Health Institute distributed $1.2 million in grants last fall for groups to carry out best practices for data collection on American Indians and Alaska Natives. The institute refers to the effort as "decolonizing data," as inaccurate categorization and racial misclassification has led to undercounts when it comes to representation of social, economic and health measures.
Advocates say that has resulted in fewer resources being given to Native communities.
In New Mexico's largest judicial direct, there are no extra resources being funneled to prosecutors to work on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, or MMIP, cases. Still, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said the office has dedicated two staffers to review as many cases as they can. The special unit has been able to locate five people since its creation in December 2021, he said, but there are 28 still on the list.
"This is a work in progress, and we continue to get better at it," he said. "And I think from what I've seen, the federal agencies involved are getting better at it as well."
For Denise Billy and Kayleigh Otero, their work in the district attorney's office starts after cases are reported to law enforcement. They review the files and develop profiles that include the missing person's daily routine, whom they associated with and any other details the family can provide — even the smallest of details.
"That's something that me and Denise think about the most: just really digging deep," Otero said. "It's important work and it's work that we're dedicated to doing. We don't just turn it off when we get to go home."
Las Cruces Public Schools board starts breakneck superintendent search - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The Las Cruces Board of Education is looking for a new superintendent to lead the district – and plans to name a candidate by July 1.
That leaves less than two months for the search and naming a new leader, said school board President Teresa Tenorio in a phone interview.
In recent press releases and prior meetings, the board was looking to hire someone over the course of 140 days, conducted over the summer and announce a new superintendent by Aug. 15.
The board pivoted to a more condensed schedule at an April 28 meeting. JG Consulting, an Austin-based firm the board hired to conduct the search and background candidates, recommended moving faster, to get more candidates to apply.
“There’s a window of time when superintendent candidates are shopping around,” Tenorio said. “That window closed when you get closer to the end of the school year, or the end of the fiscal year.”
RECENT RESIGNATIONS
The search follows the recent resignation of Las Cruces schools superintendent Ralph Ramos.
Ramos, 54, headed the district for just over two years. He stepped into theinterim position March 2021 after the sudden death of Karen Trujillo, who was struck by a car while walking her dogs.
The then-board set out to hire Trujillo’s replacement injust under two months, citing the need to hire a superintendent by the start of the new fiscal year.
The boardhired Ramos for the position on June 1, 2021. His starting salary was $10,000 higher than Trujillo’s at $180,000.
A board member, the sole vote against Ramos,resigned days later, citing transparency issues with the process, and “bullying and misogynistic comportment,” from the former Board President Ray Jaramillo. A probe from an outside law firm reported “no findings” of management or improper conduct intheir investigation.
The reasons Ramos left are unclear.
Billed as a retirement, Ramos left the school district after two meetings behind closed doors explored two grievances filed against him by employees. The name of the employees and the nature of the grievances are not public.
The first meeting washeld in January for four hours behind closed doors. The Las Cruces Sun Newsreported the board met again just two days before Ramos issued a statement about his retirement on March 9. Ramos left the district April 7.
Board member Jaramillo also resigned March 9, reposting a letter he sent to other board members. He’s since made the Facebook letter private, but said the purchasing of daycare Alpha School for Young Children, and family health issues as reasons he stepped down.
However, in an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin, Jaramillo said Ramos’ departure led to his own.
“If Ralph was still there, I’d still probably be there,” Jaramillo told the Bulletin. “Ralph and I made a connection. We worked hard to develop a relationship that I thought was good for the district.”
MORE PARTICIPATION, MONEY SPENT ON THIS SEARCH
The recent search holds a few key differences from recent years – the advisory committee made up of teachers, district staff, parents, students, businesses and election officials had 72 people nominated to sit on it. In the 2021 search, there were eight people nominated to the committee. A full list can be found here.
The board also hired a national educational hiring firm, Austin-based JG Consulting.
The board did not hire a consulting firm for recent superintendent searches, said Kelly Jameson, a spokesperson for Las Cruces Public Schools, who said the last time a firm was brought in may have been in 2006.
At the April 11 meeting, three board members present expressed “sticker shock” from the quotes provided by the two firms applying for the contract.
Tenorio declined to provide how much the district paid the consulting group, directing Source NM to file a public records request for that information. Source NM is waiting on that request.
JG Consultingbid $50,000 to conduct the search at neighboring Socorro Independent School District, in El Paso County. Socorro schools have approximately 48,000 students, a little more than twice the size of the Las Cruces district with 23,711 students.
In the April 28 meeting, Las Cruces schools board member Robert Wofford asked if the firm conducts interviews beyond the candidates’ own references.
“My question stems from past superintendents here, and failing to fully vet,” Wofford said.
Guerra responded that the firm makes the effort to reach out to lots of individuals to determine if there’s any impropriety “personal or professional” in candidate’s backgrounds.
“We’re batting 1000, we’ve never failed a search, we don’t intend to start now,” Guerra said.
JG Consulting held interviews with board members, breakout groups of the advisory committee, and collected responses from a parent survey to produce a report of the ideal qualities for the next superintendent. This included someone who preferably is bilingual in Spanish and English, has experience in similar districts, and has experience as a teacher.
Tenorio offered her perspective, that the most important qualities were the ability to communicate, be transparent, and allow the parents, businesses and more the chance to engage with schools.
“Being a superintendent is a very hard job,” Tenorio told Source NM, “I want to be able to support a superintendent who puts kids first.”
See the full job description at SourceNM.com.
Ex-New Mexico high school coach guilty of federal child porn - Associated Press
A former girls' athletic coach at a New Mexico high school has been convicted of federal charges involving child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Federal prosecutors say 31-year-old Jonathon Bindues used his former position as the coach of girls' basketball and track teams at Los Lunas High School south of Albuquerque to gain special access to minor females between September 2020 and June 2021.
A federal grand jury in Albuquerque indicted him in March 2022. A jury convicted him Friday after a few hours of deliberations on one count each of production of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Prosecutors say he exchanged more than 17,000 text messages with a freshman on teams he coached, requesting nude images of her and repeatedly encouraging her to delete the messages.
Her mother discovered the sexually explicit messages on the girl's phone and reported them to New Mexico state police.
"This man, who was entrusted to mentor young people, was in actuality a predator of vulnerable girls," said Amy Kaskel, FBI acting special agent in charge.
U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez praised the "bravery, fortitude and resilience" of the girl and her family for coming forward to report the crimes.
"Her strength in facing her abuser and sharing her story is nothing short of heroic," he said. "Our children deserve schools and sports free of sexual predation."
Bindues faces up to life in prison on the coercion and enticement charge, and between 15 and 30 years on the child pornography charge at his pending sentencing before U.S. District Judge James O. Browning in federal court in Albuquerque.
Vermont bans owning, running paramilitary training camps - By Lisa Rathke Associated Press
Vermont on Monday made it a crime to own or operate paramilitary training camps in the state after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed legislation introduced in response to a firearms training facility built without permits that neighbors called a menace.
Violators face up to five years in prison or a fine up to $50,000 or both, according to the law. It prohibits a person from teaching, training, or demonstrating to anyone else the use, application, or making of a firearm, explosive, or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death that will be used in or in furtherance of a civil disorder. It also bans a person from assembling with others for such training, instruction or practice.
The gun violence prevention group led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, of Arizona, who was forced to give up her political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, praised Vermont's law.
"Today, Vermont joins 25 other states that prohibit firearms training for anti-government paramilitary activity," said Allison Anderman, senior counsel and the leader of Giffords' Guns & Democracy project. "Private paramilitary activity is illegal in Vermont and has been associated with the intimidation of people exercising their constitutional rights across the US," she said by email. "This is a commonsense policy that will help reduce the spread of dangerous, illegal, and anti-government firearms intimidation."
The Vermont law does not apply to legitimate law enforcement activity or lawful activity by Norwich University or any other educational institution where military science is taught. it also doesn't apply to self-defense instruction or practice without the intent of causing a civil disorder; firearms instruction that is intended to teach the safe handling and use of firearms; and any lawful sports or activities like hunting, target shooting and firearms collection.
In Oregon, which has had the sixth-highest number of extremist incidents in the country in the last 10 years, the legislature is considering a bill that, according to experts, would create the country's most comprehensive law against paramilitary activity. A failed bill this year in the New Mexico legislature that sought to rein in paramilitary patrols created in recent years to halt migrants near the international border with Mexico. A paramilitary patrol in New Mexico appeared at a protest over a statue of a Spanish conquistador.
The owner of the 30-acre firearms training center in southern Vermont has until summer to remove all unpermitted structures on the site in Pawlet. Neighbors have complained about the gunfire and what they say are threats and intimidation by owner Daniel Banyai and his supporters.
The Vermont Environmental Court said that Banyai was in contempt of court for deliberately flouting a series of court orders issued since the legal case began in 2019 and now faces jail and fines that could exceed $100,000 if he fails to comply by June 23.
Banyai did not respond to a text seeking comment.
New pipeline agency rule aimed at cutting methane leaks - By Matthew Daly Associated Press
The federal agency that regulates pipelines announced new rules Friday aimed at reducing leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from a network of nearly 3 million miles of natural gas pipelines that crisscross the country.
The proposal by the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration would significantly improve the detection and repair of leaks from gas pipelines, keep more product in the pipes and prevent dangerous accidents, officials said.
If finalized, the rules would eliminate up to 1 million metric tons of methane emissions by 2030, equivalent to emissions from 5.6 million gasoline-powered cars, the agency said. Overall, the rule would reduce emissions from covered pipelines by up to 55%.
"Quick detection of methane leaks is an important way to keep communities safe and help curb climate change," said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "We are proposing a long-overdue modernization of the way we identify and fix methane leaks, thereby reducing emissions and strengthening protections for the American people."
The proposal is aimed at cutting methane emissions from more than 2.7 million miles of gas transmission, distribution and gathering pipelines nationwide; 400 underground natural gas storage facilities; and 165 liquefied natural gas facilities, the agency said.
The rule would update decades-old federal leak detection and repair standards that rely solely on human senses in favor of new requirements that use commercially available, advanced technologies to find and fix methane leaks and other flammable, toxic and corrosive gases, officials said.
The rules will improve health and safety in poor and minority communities where gas pipelines and related infrastructure are disproportionately located, the agency said.
The proposal is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to restrict methane emissions and follows proposed rules by the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department to strengthen methane leak detection and limit emissions from oil and gas production.
"Natural gas pipelines are ubiquitous in our neighborhoods, cities, parks and rural communities, and pipeline leaks are both safety risks and a source of methane pollution that accelerates climate change," said Erin Murphy, a senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, which has pushed for stricter methane standards.
PHMSA's proposal is "a welcome step" that will help "unlock" use of advanced technologies to find and fix more pipeline leaks, Murphy said.
"Strong federal standards to reduce pipeline leaks are critical for delivering on the Biden administration's commitment to curb climate-warming methane pollution while increasing public health and safety," she said.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas that is far more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near-term. Leakage from natural gas pipelines is a major source of methane emissions that contribute to global warming.
The Associated Press reported last year that researchers identified more than 500 methane "super emitters," including pipelines, wells, tanks and compressor stations, during a 2021 aerial survey of the oil-rich Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas. The sites leak massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere, according to Carbon Mapper, a partnership of university researchers and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The EPA is now conducting helicopter flyovers in the region using special infrared cameras that can detect emissions of hydrocarbon vapors invisible to the naked eye.
The new pipeline rule was developed as a result of the bipartisan PIPES Act of 2020, which created a series of regulatory mandates targeting pipeline safety, including methane leaks. Transmission, storage and distribution of oil and gas accounts for about one-third of oil-and-gas emissions, according to EPA data.
Clovis police: Fire that killed 2 children may be homicide - Associated Press
Someone started a fire in a home that left two small children dead, Clovis police said Friday.
The police investigation into the fatal Wednesday morning fire shows no large appliances near or in the area of the blaze were the cause, according to authorities.
The fire was first reported shortly after 9:30 a.m., according to Clovis police spokesperson Capt. Robbie Telles.
Responding officers found flames coming from the bottom floor of the home. Telles said they tried to enter once they learned two children were inside but the amount of fire and smoke was too overwhelming.
Clovis firefighters then arrived and put out the fire within minutes.
They found the bodies of 2-year-old Eelija Olivia Toscano and 1-year-old Esmae Lily Fierro Toscano in a bedroom.
Telles said investigators are now trying to determine if the fire was intentional, accidental or due to neglect.
Governor of New Mexico sees progress on health, poverty - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham provided an exuberant overview Friday of her approach to improving public health during a second term in office, touching on initiatives ranging from children's nutrition to reproductive health care and the regulation of oilfield pollution.
In an expansive online interview with the dean of Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the governor outlined efforts to reduce the need for acute medical care in a state with some of the nation's highest rates of poverty, fatal drug overdoses and gun deaths.
"Gun violence is a public health issue. Poverty is a public health issue. Environmental consequences from energy is a public health issue," said Lujan Grisham, a former state health department secretary. "All of these disenfranchised populations, all of the equity barriers, are all public health issues. And when we address those, our economy is better, our families are stronger, our risks are fewer."
Lujan Grisham said she believes New Mexico is making progress in addressing hunger and food insecurity that can undermine health and economic prosperity. State lawmakers enacted legislation this year to offer all public school students free lunch and breakfast, while underwriting improvements to school kitchens and setting up grants to local farms and ranches as suppliers.
Lujan Grisham also touted high rates of vaccination for COVID-19 across Native American communities within the state. And she denounced "chilling aspects" of last year's U.S. Supreme Court's decision that struck down the constitutional right to abortion.
"Women's reproductive rights are a significant public health issue, not the least of which is giving families and women the tools they need to do effective family planning," Lujan Grisham said.
State abortion laws in New Mexico are among the most liberal in the country, but six local governments in eastern New Mexico have recently approved abortion-ban ordinances that reflect pockets of deep-seated opposition to abortion access. The state Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike down the ordinances.
"My political view is these are all efforts, they always have been, to create a national abortion ban, which is the worst policy, the most draconian. ... It's despicable," Lujan Grisham said.
The interview did not delve into recent allegations of potential abuse and neglect of disabled New Mexico residents under home and community-based programs and contracts overseen by the state.
An independent evaluation last year of state-operated hospitals for veterans, mentally ill people and older adults described inadequate oversight that threatened the ability to provide quality care.
Lujan Grisham figured prominently in discussions about potential presidential Cabinet appointments immediately after President Joe Biden's election in 2020.
Wearing red, Indigenous families honor missing relatives - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Native Americans whose relatives have gone missing or been killed wore red on Friday, a color synonymous with raising awareness about the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who have been victims of violence.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day is held on May 5 — the birthday of Hanna Harris, who was only 21 when she was slain on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana.
Countless more Indigenous people have gone missing since her body was found nearly a decade ago. Advocates describe it as a silent crisis, rooted in colonization, forced removal and government policies that led to the stamping out of culture and identity as entire communities were marginalized.
This weekend's marches, symposiums, prayer gatherings, art installations and ceremonies are meant to pressure policy makers in the U.S. and Canada to ensure equity when investigating such cases. The red dresses, they say, are used to call home the spirits of missing and slain Indigenous victims.
"We have to call this national state of emergency what it is -- a genocide," Carol McBride, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said in an email. She urged people to channel their grief into activism. "Wearing red is powerful."
Canada's House of Commons unanimously approved a motion this week calling on the government to declare a national state of emergency. Such a declaration would make more tools available, said Mel Critch, who works with the Native Women's Association of Canada and is co-chair of the group Manitoba Moon Voices.
The burden of tackling the problem has fallen largely to Indigenous women, relatives and other community members, Critch said.
"As this moves through the Senate, our communities will be watching and listening carefully, praying for its adoption and a day when this will end, when our children and families will be safe," Critch said.
Lawmakers in the U.S. introduced their own resolutions this week supporting the May 5 effort.
High rates of violence, sexual assault, homicides and disappearances of Indigenous people, particularly women, have festered for generations amid inadequate public safety resources in Indian Country, where tiny police forces are responsible for vast territories and a tangled web of local and federal jurisdictions often complicates efforts to track and communicate about cases as they happen.
About 4,200 missing and murdered cases have gone unsolved, according to U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates. Federal health statistics document murder rates for Native American and Alaska Native women at 10 times the national rate.
Still, the number of missing and slain Indigenous women remains unknown. A 2021 review by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office pointed to reporting problems, distrust of law enforcement and jurisdictional conflicts.
Recently adopted U.S. laws aim to improve data collection and law enforcement responses. A national commission began holding public meetings in April to craft more recommendations. Gary Restaino, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, will be listening to tribal leaders and families at next week's commission meeting in Flagstaff.
He said the Justice Department now prioritizes cases in Indian Country, bringing the Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to support the FBI when local or tribal police call for help.
"That, I think, is a real expansion from the way we have traditionally done these cases and should be an opportunity to get more resources into underserved areas in Indian Country," he said.
Many states have created their own task forces and commissions, aiming to keep cases from falling through the cracks. Prosecutors in New Mexico's largest judicial district have a special unit to help with missing person investigations involving Native Americans.
In California, lawmakers approved the creation of an alert system to help find Indigenous people missing under suspicious circumstances. The legislation came last year after the Yurok Tribe issued an emergency declaration after five Indigenous women were reported as missing or were killed within a span of 18 months.
"Every time someone goes missing in this state, that is tomorrow's historical trauma," said Abby Abinanti, the Yurok Tribe's chief judge.
The tribe plans to use drones to bolster its search and rescue program.
The Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California also declared an emergency, and imposed a curfew for minors following the recent killings of two tribal citizens.
Washington is creating a cold case investigations unit, and Oklahoma's governor signed legislation Monday ordering state public safety officials to work with tribes on an alert system named for Cherokee Nation citizen Kasey Russell, who went missing in 2016.
While there has been progress, state and federal lawmakers agree that more needs to be done.
California Assemblymember James Ramos told a hearing Tuesday that trends in his state don't show improvement. He wants qualified tribal law enforcement officers to be able to access a statewide telecommunications system as they investigate missing persons cases.
In New Mexico, advocates want the governor to issue a new executive order to chart the next phase of implementing recommendations made in an extensive task force report in 2020.
For Melody Delmar, who leads MMIP projects for New Mexico's Indian Affairs Department, the crisis is personal. As a social worker, she's often among the first people families call when they need help.
Her dream? A state office dedicated to Indian Country cases where families could be assigned a social worker.
"There's just so many levels of this and it can be complicated," she said. "But we also can look at this and know there are solutions out there too."
Nearly two years passed before federal authorities made an arrest in the case of Ella Mae Begay, a master Navajo weaver who went missing in 2021.
Her niece, Seraphine Warren, walked from the Navajo Nation to Washington D.C. to raise awareness. She has not given up finding her aunt — she's gathering volunteers for another search of the desert in the coming weeks.
Waiting for information to trickle down from authorities to grieving family members is like torture, Warren said.
"All that families want is for somebody to check on them, to see if their cases are still being investigated," said Warren, who will be marching in Seattle this weekend.
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland received a briefing Friday in Albuquerque from her agency's Missing and Murdered Unit, created in 2021. To date, the unit has investigated 728 cases; solved or closed 263 missing persons cases; and solved eight murder cases.
Advocates are watching closely as Congress hashes out budget requests for federal agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Cuts could result in fewer law enforcement officers in areas that are already understaffed.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, said Congress has a responsibility to honor trust and treaty obligations with Indian Country.
"And it's important to affirm that this is a priority," he said.
'Risk it all': Migrant surge as US prepares for Title 42 end - By Rebecca Santana And Valerie Gonzalez Associated Press
Under a set of white tents at the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, dozens of Venezuelan men waited. Some sat on curbs and others leaned on metal barricades. When the gates eventually opened, the long line of men filed slowly up the pedestrian pathway to the bridge and across the Rio Grande River to Mexico.
In the past few weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have been facilitating these expulsions three times a day as roughly 30,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have entered the U.S. in this region since mid-April. That's compared with 1,700 migrants Border Patrol agents encountered in the first two weeks of April.
In the other end of the state, in El Paso, officials are dealing with another surge of migrants and worry that thousands more are waiting to cross.
All this comes as the U.S. is preparing for the end of a policy linked to the coronavirus pandemic that allowed it to quickly expel many migrants, and it spotlights concerns about whether the end of the immigration limits under Title 42 of a 1944 public health law will mean even more migrants trying to cross the southern border.
"We've been preparing for quite some time and we are ready. What we are expecting is indeed a surge. And what we are doing is planning for different levels of a surge," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week during a visit to southern Texas. But he also stressed that the situation at the border is "extremely challenging."
He spoke from a location in Brownsville where U.S. officials had set up a tent and facilities like portable bathrooms for migrants. He said it's difficult to identify the cause of the recent Venezuelan surge but said the U.S. is working with Mexico to address it and predicted change "very shortly."
Many of those crossing the border are entering through Brownsville just north of the Mexican border town of Matamoros. The city was rocked by another crisis Sunday when an SUV plowed into people waiting at a bus stop across from the city's migrant shelter. Eight people, mostly men from Venezuela, died.
Ricardo Marquez, a 30-year-old Venezuelan man, arrived at a shelter in McAllen after crossing the border with his wife and 5-month-old child in Brownsville. They left Venezuela because his daughter needs surgery.
"I was confronted with the decision to either stay there or risk it all for my daughter," he said. They had crossed the Rio Grande after spending a month in Matamoros trying to get an appointment through an app the U.S. uses to schedule appointments for people without documents to come to the border and seek entry.
Officials in President Joe Biden's administration say they have been preparing for well over a year for the end of Title 42. The strategy has hinged on providing more legal pathways for migrants to get to the U.S. without risking the perilous journey to the border. That includes things like setting up centers in foreign countries where migrants can apply to emigrate as well as a humanitarian parole process already in place with 30,000 slots a month for people from four countries to come to the U.S. Starting May 12 they're expanding appointments available through the CBP One app Marquez tried to use. When it was launched many migrants and advocates criticized the app, saying it had technological problems and there simply weren't enough appointments.
The strategy is also heavy on consequences. The U.S. is proposing a rule that would severely limit asylum to migrants who first travel through another country, quickly screening migrants seeking asylum at the border and deporting those deemed not qualified, and a five-year ban on reentry for those deported.
A lot of these consequences have been met with harsh criticism by immigrants' rights groups who have gone so far as to compare the policies to then-President Donald Trump's and say the right to apply for asylum on U.S. soil is sacrosanct. Much of the Biden administration strategy is also facing legal peril in the coming weeks. The proposed rule limiting asylum is almost certain to be the subject of lawsuits. And Republican-leaning states want to stop the Democratic administration's use of humanitarian parole on such a large scale.
The administration has also been increasing Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights to remove people from the country — flights like one that took off recently from an airport in Harlingen, Texas. Shortly after dawn three buses pulled up next to a plane. One by one migrants got out of the bus. They were wearing handcuffs and leg restraints and surgical masks. First they were patted down for contraband and then slowly walked up the stairs to the plane. Altogether 133 migrants were sent back to their home country of Guatemala.
But those flights only work if countries accept them. Venezuela does not. And Colombia says it's suspending deportation flights due to "cruel and degrading" treatment of migrants.
Administration officials say they're using technology to speed up the processing of migrants who cross the border without documentation and using mobile processing, so they can process migrants while they're being transported by bus or van, for example. They've pushed to digitize documents that at one time were filled out by hand by Border Patrol. And they've beefed up the hiring of contractors so agents can remain in the field.
But critics have slammed the administration, saying it's not doing enough. Kristen Sinema, an independent U.S. senator from Arizona, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the administration wasn't communicating with local officials about things like what type of surge to expect or whether buses would be available to transport migrants. And she said a decision to send 1,500 military troops to the border came too late.
In communities that border Mexico, officials and community groups that care for newly arrived migrants are anxious about what the end of Title 42 means. Sister Norma Pimentel runs Catholic Charities' Humanitarian Respite Center, the largest shelter in South Texas.
The shelter functions mainly as a resource center where migrants can purchase tickets, make calls, eat and rest before traveling to their next destination, where they often have family or other contacts. But, Pimentel said, many of the Venezuelans in this latest surge don't have connections in the U.S., making it harder for them to move to the next destination. "That becomes a problem for us," she said.
The federal government gives money to communities to help them deal with the increases in migrants. On Friday the administration announced that $332 million had been disbursed to 35 local governments and service organizations. Most goes to communities close to the border "due to the urgencies they are confronting," but cities far from the border also get funds.
In the Texas border city of El Paso, about 2,200 migrants are currently camped or living on the streets a few blocks from major ports of entry that connect El Paso with the Mexican city of Juárez. The city is prepared to open up shelters next week if needed at two vacant school buildings and a civic center.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser estimated that roughly 10,000 to 12,000 migrants are in Juárez waiting to cross, as local officials prepare for the "unknown." Leeser said migrants are flocking to the border under false assumptions that it will be easier to gain entry to the U.S. when Title 42 goes away, but for many there could be tougher consequences.
It's a message federal officials have been repeating. But they're competing against a powerful human smuggling network that facilitates northern migration and the desperation of migrants who feel they have no other option.
At the Brownsville port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they've run drills to prepare in case there's a surge of migrants trying to cross and they need to close the bridge. Pedestrians cross from Matamoros using a covered walkway that can only accommodate a few people across. Worried about the impact of long lines of migrants coming to the port after May 11 without an appointment and impacting port operations, they're calling on people to schedule appointments through CBP One.