Multiple media outlets report local police and Border Patrol agents began an effort during the last week to remove and arrest migrants from the streets of El Paso ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to the Texas-Mexico border. The roundup appears to be an attempt to set up a Potemkin Village that paints a much different picture of the El Paso humanitarian crisis of just two weeks ago.
El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents and local police officers began arresting migrants sleeping on city streets in the day’s leading up to President Joe Biden’s first-ever visit to the Texas-Mexico border, NBC News reported.
Latest from @JuliaEAinsley & @DidiMartinez5:
Video shows border agents, police arresting migrants sleeping outside church shelter in El Paso ahead of President Biden's visit https://t.co/PsY350Wgga
— Gabe Gutierrez (@gabegutierrez) January 7, 2023
Photos from the Daily Mail tweeted by Mark Levin show the before and after scenes after the roundup of migrants.
This is what dictatorships dohttps://t.co/de6aRrBqXx
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) January 8, 2023
Immigration advocates complain that the arrest of migrants outside churches and shelters may violate Department of Homeland Security policies, NBC reported.
El Paso rushes to remove illegal immigrants and migrant camps that are crowding downtown before Biden arrives.
Predictable.
Biden does not want America to see the chaos that he has caused on the border.
This is just a photo op and a game of pretend.https://t.co/4KJqorJjrP
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 7, 2023
Border Patrol officials confirmed the arrest of migrants in El Paso who crossed the border and did not initially surrender to agents.
“In response to migrants evading apprehension in the El Paso area, the United States Border Patrol has increased the number of agents patrolling the area,” an El Paso Sector spokesman told NBC. The spokesman said the actions are part of a “layered approach hat includes patrolling the border itself, nearby areas and neighborhoods, and conducting checkpoints.”
El Paso Matters wrote: “The sounds of crowds of people talking, crying, laughing and praying around the streets of Downtown El Paso were silenced overnight Wednesday as U.S. Border Patrol agents swept up large crowds of migrants near the Greyhound bus terminal.”
“By Thursday morning, all that remained were sidewalks lined with piles of blankets, clothes and toys – which were thrown away by city crews who quickly swept and cleaned up the area,” the report continued. One woman told the local news about the fear she saw in people’s eyes as police arrested the homeless migrants camped out on the streets.
The agency also appears to have stepped up migrant removals under Title 42 in advance of the president’s visit on Sunday.
A day before President Biden shows up at the border migrant expulsions have been non stop. Speaking of whitewashing El Paso. pic.twitter.com/9E9PZAz7iO
— Luis Chaparro (@LuisKuryaki) January 7, 2023
Washington Examiner reporter tweeted a video showing the scenes on the streets of El Paso she says Biden won’t see during his visit.
NEW: Here is what Biden won’t see during his border trip to El Paso on Sunday.
The city has cleared the streets of encampments like this one, where thousands of migrant adults and kids live for days, even weeks, after being released by Border Patrol. https://t.co/eFZci5iRgo pic.twitter.com/gmp2ABhhiu
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) January 6, 2023
Breitbart Texas reported Sunday morning, a list of other things President Biden won’t see during his visit to El Paso.
During a White House press briefing late last week, Biden spokesman John Kirby dodged a question from a reporter asking if the president will see a “sanitized version of El Paso.”
Reporter: “El Paso has cleared the downtown of these expansive migrant camps that have grown there in advance of the president’s arrival. Is the president going to see a sanitized version of El Paso when he arrives at the border?”
Biden Spokesman John Kirby: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/i9NeVGA2zw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 6, 2023
Another Twitter user blamed El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser for the clearing of migrant camps ahead of the president’s visit.
Reporter: “El Paso has cleared the downtown of these expansive migrant camps that have grown there in advance of the president’s arrival. Is the president going to see a sanitized version of El Paso when he arrives at the border?”
Biden Spokesman John Kirby: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/i9NeVGA2zw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 6, 2023
The NBC report concludes:
In October 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas sent a memo to the heads of all DHS agencies, in part reminding them that places like houses of worship and courthouses are places where undocumented immigrants should not be arrested.
He noted that areas in proximity to those safe places may also be considered protected.
“We need to consider the fact that an enforcement action taken near — and not necessarily in — the protected area can have the same restraining impact on an individual’s access to the protected area itself,” Mayorkas said in the memo. “If indeed that would be the case, then, to the fullest extent possible, we should not take the enforcement action near the protected area.”
It is not known what President Biden will see when he visits the border in El Paso on Sunday. The White House did not disclose in advance who the president will meet with and what he plans to visit during the border trip.
The New York Times stated that Biden’s visit to El Paso “is bound to be awkward. Governor Abbott, who’s actions helped slow the migrant crisis in El Paso, has not announced any plans to meet with the president.
What is clear is the El Paso President Biden Visits on January 8 is much different than the El Paso of just two weeks ago.
