Border Patrol memo shows immigrant processing still happening, except for migrants from these countries
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Despite President Joe Biden’s executive order, which went into effect last week, an internal Border Patrol memo for the San Diego Sector obtained by FOX News shows agents are directed to release migrants from all countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, except for six countries.
“There’s only about six countries that we should not allow or process from migrants from, but leaving hundreds of other countries available,” said San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond.
The internal memo was sent out after President Biden’s executive order went into effect, banning asylum for most illegal immigrants when the number is at 2,500.
“If we are getting 1,300 and his [President Biden’s] max is 2,500, I just don’t see any sort of restrictions, and with that memo you would think there would have been some sort of a mention of a cap,” Desmond said.
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This internal memo, seemingly shows migrant processes are still continuing, except for the outlined six countries.
Why those six countries? The exact reason has not been identified by Border Patrol yet, but includes Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Georgia.
The memo lists the single adults from the countries as “Hard or Very Hard to Remove countries.”
The top of the memo reads, “Keep this reference for the Presidential Proclamation…”
About a day after the order went into effect, our camera crews show migrants still being processed near San Ysidro.
At the same time, Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program, says he doesn’t agree with the order but also hadn’t seen any change yet. “I’m not seeing any real significant changes in what is happening here on the ground. There are migrants that are coming, Border Patrol is telling them to wait in certain locations, they wait for a few hours, and then they get picked up and get taken for processing,” said Rios.
Desmond says another issue he believes is happening at the border, an issue properly identifying where each asylum seeker is from.
“There’s just piles of ripped up documents and passports on the ground on both sides of the border,” Desmond added.
FOX 5/KUSI News contacted Border Patrol on Sunday for clarification on the memo, but did not receive a statement by news time.
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