NEW DHS leadership gathered on Thursday under the shadow of 30-foot, black-painted, steel bollards to promote the near completion of 400 miles of President Trump’s border wall.
The politics of the moment, five days before the election, was lost on no one. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/us/politics/trump-immigration-policies-election.html?smid=tw-share

The event came as DHS officials “have in recent days traversed the nation, including in battleground states, to emphasize routine arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, criticize Democrats and blast so-called sanctuary city policies.

I asked CBP head Mark Morgan how the agency’s use of Title 42 did not violate the legal obligation to hear a migrant’s persecution claim....

“There are times when someone’s want and need to claim asylum is superseded by something of far greater value and that’s lives of American citizens,” adding the rule was meant to prevent the spread of COVID.

I also asked Morgan about reports of kidnappings and violence against migrants in tent camps at the border. He said Mexican authorities haven’t corroborated such claims. When I reminded him there have been recordings of such incidents, he said....

He laid partial blame on the migrants. “They’re intentionally leaving the sheltered environment, re-engaging the smuggling organizations, even when they’ve been told not to, to try to get illegally in the United States,” he said. “That’s when they’re exposing themselves.”