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Biden maintains Trump-era border policy despite promises for more humane practices
President Biden is building his own kind of border wall.
Why it matters: By maintaining a Trump-era policy allowing border agents to kick asylum seekers back to Mexico — and now allowing some migrant families to face detention and fast-track deportations — a Democrat who promised a more humane immigration approach is taking some tough stances.
- The hardline approach also underscores the administration's concerns about border numbers that refuse to fall, despite its best efforts.
- As Axios reported Tuesday, 20,000 migrants were apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley area in just a week during the past month.
- Some 50,000 migrants also were released into the United States without a court date, an almost unprecedented action.
What they're saying: “It is frustrating to be at the end of July in this new administration and still have essentially a wall preventing asylum seekers from entering the country," Robyn Barnard of Human Rights First told Axios.
- The administration has been "disappointing on some critical issues, including most importantly the refusal to end the Trump administration’s inhumane Title 42 policy," said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU's lead attorney in a case challenging Title 42.
- "Most recently, we are concerned about the government’s statement that it intends to use the expedited removal process for families, and continuing statements that people should not come to the United States now.”
Border policy is complicated, disputed and deeply partisan, as those decisions attest. Migration, its causes and the failure to control it will likely fuel midterm election battles next year.
- Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have already frustrated progressives and immigration advocates by telling migrants not to come to the U.S. before the administration can restore systems for proper processing of immigration and asylum requests.
- "The administration is clearly concerned about border policies and is trying to get a hold of this issue in a way that threads the needle," said Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute.
- She once oversaw the federal agency dealing with immigration.
What's happening: With the Delta coronavirus variant spreading, the administration is rethinking plans to end a Trump-era policy that has allowed border officials to immediately turn back migrants to Mexico, CNN and NBC News have reported. It was expected to be eliminated at the end of this month.
- The administration has allowed humanitarian exceptions to the Title 42 policy for the most vulnerable immigrants, but there have still been backlogs and cancellations, according to the San Diego Tribune.
- Late Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would resume a controversial practice used in past administrations allowing officials to detain and more quickly deport migrant families.
- Just last week, Biden reemphasized that migrants "should not come" to the U.S. during a CNN town hall, echoing Harris' statements during her visit to Guatemala earlier this year.
- Meanwhile, the average number of people held in ICE detention centers each day has risen to nearly 28,000 — largely comprising migrants and asylum seekers stopped by border officials, according to agency data.
Pompeo's designation of Yemen's Houthi rebels as a terror group sparks outrage in Congress
The Trump administration is facing a revolt on Capitol Hill over Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's last-minute decision to designate Yemen's Houthi rebels as a terror group despite concerns the move will exacerbate the world's most dire humanitarian crisis.
Behind the scenes: A call the State Department held this morning to brief House and Senate committee staff on the Yemen move devolved into a shouting match and left staffers from both parties shocked by the apparent lack of a plan to ensure food and aid continue to reach Yemeni civilians, millions of whom are already on the verge of famine.
What they're saying: “People on both sides of the aisle felt very frustrated that this was done in such a haphazard way. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but this could kill people," one Congressional aide briefed on the call told Axios.
- “The staff on both sides were just flabbergasted that some basic questions on how we were going to protect the people of Yemen were not answered. It almost felt as though they weren’t planning to answer it. I don’t want to say they don’t care, but it was just very troubling," the aide adds, noting that the briefers also struggled to provide a national security rationale for the move.
- At one point on the call, briefers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) acknowledged that the policy could result in a loss of life, according to the aide.
- "I don't know if it’s the fact that it’s the transition and folks have left, or if they are just desperately trying to push things across before Jan. 20. It just seemed like there was a lack of preparedness on both of these issues," the aide said, referring also to the Trump administration's decision to label Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, which was discussed on the call as well.
The big picture: The major announcements on Yemen and Cuba, as well as a recent policy shift on relations with Taiwan, are all jarring moves in the final days of an outgoing administration, particularly as the president himself seems to have largely disengaged from foreign policy.
- The administration, and in particular Pompeo, have made little secret of the fact that they are trying to tie Biden's hands, in particular when it comes to policies toward the Houthis' main patron: Iran.
- The Houthis ousted the Yemeni government in 2014 and still control large swathes of the country after six years of war with a Saudi-led coalition. The people of Yemen are facing what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster, with 80% of the population lacking sufficient food or clean water, and millions on the brink of famine.
Humanitarian groups active in Yemen have been pleading for months with the Trump administration not to take the step Pompeo announced today, arguing it would force them to either curtail the aid and services they provide or risk potential U.S. prosecution.
- Oxfam said in a statement Monday that the move would "block U.S. humanitarian aid, goods, and personnel from entering northern Yemen, where 70% of the population lives, and substantially reduce them throughout the rest of the country," seriously hampering efforts to fight hunger, cholera and COVID-19.
- David Miliband, the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, called Pompeo's step an act of "pure diplomatic vandalism" that would make crucial work in Houthi-held areas "all but impossible" and ultimately cause unnecessary deaths.
Today's briefing from the State Department appears to have done little to assuage those concerns. Multiple members of Congress have already released statements opposing the move, and calling on Biden to reverse it.
- The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a USAID spokesperson directed Axios to the State Department.



