Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is attempting his third immigration policy reset in just nine months, announcing more troop deployments to the border and faster deportation of families, coupled with an expanded amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants and more generous work permits for other illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
Mr. Mayorkas is facing yet another wave of unprecedented border chaos. Border Patrol agents reportedly are arresting nearly 7,000 migrants a day.
The numbers were punctuated by images of Eagle Pass, a small town on the Rio Grande in Texas where thousands of migrants have swamped its shores this week. They camp out under a bridge and dare the government to deport them.
The Department of Homeland Security responded to the Eagle Pass standoff by shutting down lanes at the official border crossing and shifting personnel to deal with the squatting migrants.
The department requested 800 active-duty troops from the Defense Department and vowed to expand a speedy deportation program for illegal immigrant families to deter others.
Mr. Mayorkas expanded his grant of Temporary Protected Status, a deportation amnesty, to nearly 500,000 more migrants from Venezuela who have already made it to the U.S. Most of those unauthorized immigrants arrived on President Biden’s watch.
Mr. Mayorkas also announced expanded work permits for other unauthorized migrants in the U.S. He said he wants to expedite processing to get them into the labor force. Permits will be good for up to five years, so the migrants will have status far beyond the 2024 presidential election.
Mr. Mayorkas also updated immigration policy in January and May to head off surges of migrants.
Each time, Mr. Mayorkas and his aides pointed to dips in illegal border crossings as evidence that he had some answers. Each time, after a brief decline, the numbers surged upward again.
Rob Law, director of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute, said the latest reset won’t fare any better.
“For an administration that insists the border is secure, it is curious that they keep introducing new policies,” he said. “The truth is their strategy is an abject failure because there is no deterrence or accountability for unlawful entry.”
Fox News reported that the Border Patrol caught 10,000 migrants on Wednesday alone. CBS News reported that the daily average this month is 6,900. That is close to the record daily average of about 7,200 in December.
In January, Mr. Mayorkas announced a program to persuade some migrants to schedule arrivals at ports of entry.
The result was a drop in arrest rates in January and February. The numbers ticked up again in March and April. Mr. Mayorkas’ changes in May coincided with the end of the Title 42 pandemic border policy. Illegal crossing rates again dropped before surging back to near-record rates.
Mr. Mayorkas’ latest round of changes includes more capacity for Customs and Border Protection to hold migrants at the border and an expansion of the Family Expedited Removal Management program, which aims to deport families that have jumped the border within 30 days.
Eight hundred active-duty troops will join 2,500 National Guard members already deployed by state governors. Homeland Security said the reinforcements will provide support and logistics, taking over for CBP agents and officers who can now be reassigned back into the field.
Mr. Mayorkas said TPS status applies to 242,700 Venezuelans already under protection and another 472,000 who have arrived since March 2021.
TPS grants the Venezuelans an 18-month stay of deportation and, perhaps more important to the migrants, it entitles them to work permits.
TPS is used in cases in which a home country has sustained a natural disaster, war or political unrest, and it would be dangerous to the migrants and the home country to force them to return.
Venezuela has been in political turmoil for years.
Mr. Mayorkas issued a statement saying the latest amnesty applies to migrants who entered the U.S. before July 31.
He did not say why he chose that cutoff date, but it does rule out the Venezuelans streaming into the U.S. now and thousands more who are believed to be en route through Central America.
Mr. Mayorkas did not comment on the other measures.
His search for border answers is particularly striking given the regime he inherited. Under the Trump administration, illegal border crossings dropped to 40-year lows and catch-and-release was reduced to almost zero through a series of get-tough policies.
The Biden administration called those policies cruel and dismantled them, but officials have struggled to create effective plans.
Immigrant rights advocates complained Thursday about the stricter elements in Mr. Mayorkas’ plan but celebrated the expanded work permits and the deportation amnesty for Venezuelans.
“We must not continue to rely on deadly enforcement practices that tear families apart and harm vulnerable communities,” said Marisa Limon Garza, executive director of Las Immigrant Advocacy Center. “We urge the Biden administration to reconsider these harmful measures.”
She said the work permits and the expanded TPS for Venezuelans “will provide much-needed stability to newly arrived migrants.”
Mr. Law, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Trump administration, said the TPS grant was “laundering” the illegal immigrants whom the Biden administration welcomed using legally iffy “parole” powers.
He also challenged the validity of expanding work permits.
“Five-year work permits make a mockery of the enforcement apparatus, and they are laying the foundation to prevent deportations when the Biden administration is gone in 2025,” Mr. Law said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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