By Julia Ainsley -
NBC News
A week before President Joe Biden's visit to El Paso, Texas, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and El Paso police were caught on video detaining migrants. that they were sleeping in the streets, outside a church and a bus station.
Recordings obtained by our sister network NBC News show border agents patrolling the streets where the migrants are staying the night, driving their trucks between the silent tents with their sirens flashing.
Immigrant rights advocates allege that arrests outside the church may be in violation of Department of Homeland Security policies.
Federal authorities responded in a statement saying that they take allegations of misconduct "very seriously" and assured that they are investigating the incident to establish responsibilities, if any.
The person who filmed the videos, a volunteer who works at the church shelter, told NBC News that about 100 to 150 migrants have been arrested outside the church, and more outside the bus station.
In one of the videos, a man is heard praying aloud: “Protect us, Father!
In the name of Jesus, sir.
They are people, sir, seeking their salvation, sir.
They come looking for a better future, sir.
We respect the laws, sir… Father, you have the power to protect us”.
[The keys to the temporary permit that the US will grant to eligible migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti]
In a statement, the CBP office in El Paso said the arrests occur in response to migrants evading detention.
"CBP, which is responsible for securing the US border between ports of entry, uses a layered approach that includes patrolling the border itself, nearby areas and neighborhoods, and conducting checkpoints," an office spokesperson said. from the agency in El Paso.
"In response to migrants evading detention in the El Paso area, Border Patrol has increased the number of agents patrolling the area."
The number of migrants crossing the border at El Paso reached record levels in mid-December, reaching as many as 2,500 a day, though it has declined since then, according to Border Patrol officials.
Migrants outside a church in El Paso, Texas, as border agents and local police officers patrol the street.NBC News
In this context, some of the first migrants took refuge in the shelter of the Sacred Heart Church, but many of those who arrived later were turned away because the shelter was full.
Children were left to sleep on the streets before Christmas, when temperatures reached freezing point.
Now, the city has opened more shelters to house the migrants, although many continue to sleep outside the church and next to the bus station.
A Border Patrol officer told NBC News that they arrested migrants who had evaded capture after entering the country illegally from Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
The detainees were taken to the El Paso immigration processing center, where they spent the night, according to the officer.
They were then expelled back to Mexico under Title 42, a health rule imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic that allows for expedited deportation of migrants at the southern border.
The Supreme Court has kept the measure in place, despite attempts by the Biden Administration to end it.
On Thursday, the Biden administration presented new plans to increase the number of migrants who can return to Mexico under Title 42.
Biden is expected to promote his plan while visiting El Paso.
The measure also opens up more avenues for legal immigration.
Volunteers help the Three Wise Men so that migrant children can have gifts
Jan 6, 202301:40
Arrests outside Sacred Heart Church may violate Department of Homeland Security guidance, according to Lisa Graybill, vice president for law and policy at the National Immigration Law Center.
“Being cynical, I think there is a possibility that this was a cleanup action meant to cast El Paso and the president's actions in a particular light,” Graybill said.
“I think the irony is that what you see in this video, what our partners on the ground have told us, is in direct contradiction to the kind of reasoned, sensitive and law-abiding proposals that you made early in your Administration, such as respect for shelters in churches and organizations that provide social services.
So it's a really painful contradiction,” he added.
In October 2021, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sent a memo to the heads of all Homeland Security Department agencies, emphasizing that places of worship and courthouses were places where undocumented immigrants should not be arrested.
And he pointed out that the areas close to those places could also be considered as protected.
“We need to consider the fact that an action nearby, without having to be within the location itself, can have the same adverse effect as denying an individual the protection afforded there,” Mayorkas said in the memo.
"If that were the case, then, to the greatest extent possible, we should not be taking law enforcement action near the protected area."
