Migrant Families Force Biden to Confront New Border Crisis

It is not clear to what degree Mexico’s new law on migrant children applies outside of expulsions from Texas, where the Mexicans are enforcing it. But hundreds of migrants have also been released after crossing near the border in San Ysidro, Calif., activists said, and it is likely that the need to avoid congestion at border facilities during the pandemic is a factor there as well.

Health authorities in San Diego have ruled that those crossing into California must remain at the hotel for 10 days before being allowed to go onward. There is no similar quarantine requirement in Texas for migrants who arrive with no coronavirus symptoms, according to volunteers working with the migrants; there, they said, those released by Border Patrol are being allowed to board buses and travel to other destinations.

Jewish Family Service, which is helping families through their hotel quarantines in San Diego, said 140 migrants were released by the Border Patrol to the nonprofit in January, up from 54 in December. During the first five days of February, the number grew to more than 200.

“This is the busiest we have been in a long time,” Ms. Clark said. “We’re working around the clock to keep up.”

News of the Mexican law has sown widespread confusion, with many migrants mistakenly believing that the law, along with the change of administration, means the United States will now allow anyone to cross.

Mother Isabel Turcios, a nun in Piedras Negras, Mexico, a small town across from Eagle Pass, Texas, described a chaotic situation with migrants arriving by the dozens by train each day and parking themselves on street corners and in abandoned houses, hoping for a chance to cross.