Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies yesterday published a report on a little-publicized segment of the immigration policy of the Biden administration he calls “catch and bus.”
Essentially an enhancement of the notorious “catch and release,” this new practice, which began in November 2020 simultaneous with the election of Joe Biden, does more than simply release apprehended illegals into the U.S. It provides them with a way to disperse throughout the country as each individual and family seeks friends and relatives already settled here and there. To investigate the practice, Bensman visited the border town of Del Rio, Texas. Here is a summary of how the system works out of Del Rio.
Aliens crossing the border near Del Rio typically turn themselves in to the Border Patrol just after reaching the American side. The Border Patrol officials take their fingerprints and jot down their identities as provided. From November until recently, none were tested for Covid though last month a public outcry inspired the Biden officials to begin testing.
After being cleared, some are then given a document called an “Order of Release on Recognizance,” which grants them the legal right to remain in the United States for one year. Others appear to be receiving a different document called an “Interim Notice Authorizing Parole,” which also grants a one-year term but is renewable.
In Del Rio, the migrants, now tested and documented, are taken to the offices of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition, which arranges for them to contact friends and relatives elsewhere in the U.S. to secure bus or plane fare. If there is sufficient demand to transport enough migrants to a given location–say, Dallas or Houston or more distant cities such as Boston–chartered buses will take them there en masse. Otherwise, Greyhound or–for the better heeled–one of the airlines will take them to their destinations. There they will have a year protected from removal, to ensconce themselves into American life.
Since inauguration day, at least 45,000 aliens have been released into the United States. These come primarily from Mexico and the Central American countries, but not exclusively. When Bensman visited, he saw a chartered bus and a chartered van take on board 60 Haitian families who had just crossed the Rio Grande. Within a day or so, all had been processed and documented and were again being loaded onto buses taking them to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach in Florida and also Newark, New Jersey. He quotes one pro-migrant volunteer with a local church as the groups departed:
They feel happy because they’re in the United States. They want to get as soon as possible to their destination. They’re all going to apply for asylum. They’re all good people.
And who knows, within a few years they’ll probably all be good Democrats.
For more, see the Center for Immigration Studies website.