Amid mass confusion, here’s what we know about the preliminary plan
The Southwest border is stretched to the breaking point, and South Florida could be a relief valve if the tide of migrants doesn’t slow, federal officials say.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is developing a “contingency plan” that could involve sending thousands of migrants to South Florida.
Local officials are concerned the plan could burden an already strained social safety net. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric
Bradshaw said he was told as many as 1,000 migrants could be sent to Broward and Palm Beach counties a month with no definite end date.
Federal officials tried to downplay alarm from South Florida leaders. They said no imminent plans exist to send migrants to South Florida, but confusion still abounds.
Here’s what we know so far.
Why would migrants be sent to Broward and Palm Beach counties?
A senior federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said border stations in the Southwest are overwhelmed and can’t handle the surge of migrants. The government needs to find facilities elsewhere to process them.
He said officials are examining facilities in South Florida as part of their “contingency planning,” which is in preliminary stages.
Some have questioned whether the move could be politically motivated. Broward and Palm Beach counties are the most Democratic counties in the state.
Trump said during an April 27 rally he was sending migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that offer protections to undocumented immigrants.
“We are sending many of them to sanctuary cities. Thank you very much,” Trump said. “They are not too happy about it. I am proud to tell you that was actually my sick idea.”
While some conservative websites have called Broward and Palm Beach sanctuary communities, the U.S. Department of Justice has not identified them as such. Officials in both counties are adamant that they have never
enacted sanctuary city policies.
Furthermore, Florida lawmakers passed a bill — supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis — that bans sanctuary policies.
Both Broward and Palm Beach counties stopped honoring immigration detention requests involving inmates after a 2014 court ruling. That ruling said jails would be violating inmates’ civil rights if they held them beyond their release dates without a signed judge’s order.
Miami-Dade does honor the federal government’s requests to detain people.
Where are the migrants coming from?
There has been a dramatic spike in apprehensions on the Southern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics. About 248,197 migrants in families had been apprehended as of April, compared with 49,621 for the same span last year.
Those numbers dwarf the number of apprehensions for the Miami sector. Only 43 people were apprehended during the 2018 budget year.
Press dispatches from the Southern border describe overwhelmed facilities. At the El Paso crossing, migrants have been crammed into a makeshift encampment underneath a bridge, sleeping in military-style tents.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen issued a statement in late March calling the situation a “cascading crisis.”
“The system is in freefall,” she said. “DHS is doing everything possible to respond to a growing humanitarian catastrophe while also securing our borders, but we have reached peak capacity and are now forced to pull from other missions to respond to the emergency.”
Government statistics show
the biggest share of migrants in families are from Guatemala, followed by Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
The area known as the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — has been plagued with gang violence, drug trafficking and corruption.
So what happens when they get to Florida?
Bradshaw said they’ll be issued a notice to appear for a hearing and released. He said the federal government didn’t present any plan as to how their health care, education, transportation and housing needs would be met.
Broward and Palm Beach officials say their homeless shelters and social safety networks are at capacity. Palm Beach County Mayor Mack Bernard suggested the county may need to set up temporary camps.
Federal officials say they typically work with nonprofit agencies when migrants are released into communities.
Social service agencies and charities in South Florida have already started collaborating and brainstorming to make sure they’re prepared to provide diapers, food, shelter and legal services. They said, though, they aren’t sure what the federal government’s plans could entail.
“There was panic today by all of the agencies that are expecting to step up to the plate when it happens, if it happens,” said Father Frank O’Loughlin, director of the Guatemalan Maya Center in Lake Worth. “Nobody knows what’s exactly going down and everybody was clear that nobody has any idea.”
Often, migrants are able to connect with family members or friends in the immigrant community who offer support, he said.
Palm Beach County officials met Friday at the emergency operations center to start planning for a possible influx.
How did we learn of this plan?
Local and federal officials have offered conflicting accounts of what could be in the works.
Broward County officials released a statement that they had been informed that the federal government will be “sending hundreds of migrants to Broward County.” Bradshaw said migrants could start arriving within two weeks from the El Paso, Texas, area.
Florida’s elected officials were caught off guard.
DeSantis, a Trump ally, said he was unaware of the plan, but he strongly opposes it.
“This was not something that came down from the White House. This is something that came out of the agency,” DeSantis said, referring to the Border Patrol. “Sometimes this stuff happens. Ultimately this is something I’m going to have to talk to the president about.”
Are migrants being sent to other communities?
The scope of the federal government’s plans aren’t clear. Federal officials say they are looking at facilities on the coastal and northern borders that have excess capacity.
Border Patrol has been releasing thousands of migrants into border communities — from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, Calif. — because of overcrowded facilities, overwhelming charities and local government social services there.
Because of overcrowded facilities on the border, about 40,000 migrants have been released since mid-March from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, Calif.