According to an internal Border Patrol letter, agents in the San Diego sector are directed to release unmarried adults who are classified as “hard” or “very hard” to remove from all but six Eastern Hemisphere nations.
Following the executive order signed by President Biden last week prohibiting refuge for the majority of undocumented immigrants, the memo was distributed.
In a statement made on Tuesday, Biden stated that he was “moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.”
The vast majority of migrants in the San Diego sector are being released into the United States despite President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threatening to remove illegal migrants under the new executive order and promising to do so. This is because there are over 100 countries in the Eastern Hemisphere.
According to a senior Border Patrol official, the San Diego sector was given specific instructions only because of the distinct nations they come across there.
According to the official, this is not DHS or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy for the whole border.
According to the CBP officer, even in the event that these migrants are allowed to re-enter the country, they will still not be qualified to apply for asylum.
The United States government regards some nations as “recalcitrant,” meaning they will not assist with deportation efforts and will not allow its nationals to be returned.
During a background call with reporters on Friday, the DHS said that it is challenging to exclude some nations from the Eastern Hemisphere, but they are collaborating with them—including China—to win their cooperation.
The border official made note of the fact that, although a significant number of people from the Eastern Hemisphere are being released with a court date in the San Diego sector due to their home countries’ refusal to cooperate with deportations, two thirds of those encountered in the San Diego sector are from Western Hemisphere nations that are easily removed; these nations include Ecuador and Colombia, a significant number of which are being placed under expedited removal. Since the order went into effect, thousands of illegal immigrants from various Western Hemisphere nations have already been either expelled or brought back, the official continued.
According to the CBP official, they have been “clear eyed” about the reality that Biden’s executive order will take time to fully implement and they will keep contacting noncompliant nations to begin repatriating their individuals.
They added that there is a limit to what they can accomplish with an executive order and that many of these Eastern Hemisphere counties will remain freed in the San Diego region until those agreements are finalized.
