Border Update 11AM | Migrants gather at the border ahead of Title 42 expiring

We begin with the border crisis. We are counting down to the end of Title 42 coming up here in just a few hours. That’s the policy that allowed the federal government to reject asylum seekers over COVID concerns. Thanks for reading with us here at 11:00 AM. I’m Evan Durani. Infranet Iran pour. I’m Eric Connor. Take a look. These are the crowds growing at the US Mexico border right now. Took a look at these videos from here in San Ysidro to Yuma, AZ and El Paso, TX. And this just into our newsroom video shows a crowd

of migrants walking through Marin Valley. Elliott Rd. in Del Zura. This is in East County. We’re told that many of them were injured and waiting for Border Patrol agents. But as people hope to enter the US, the Biden administration has put in place new rules aimed at curbing the numbers. So if migrants passing through another country on their way here, they have to prove that they tried to apply for asylum in that other country first. That essentially applies to all non Mexican migrants. Violators face A5 year ban from the US and a felony charge this

morning. The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to challenge these new rules in court, the ACLU of San Diego says. Many of the countries

that migrants pass through don’t have working asylum systems, they say in a statement. Quote Like Title 42, this new asylum ban will expose vulnerable people to unspeakable dangers. The Biden administration must reverse course. End Quote. We do have team coverage for you, led by our Netta Iran Pour. CBS8’s Shannon Handy is near PED W without changes at the border can impact you. Richard Allen is live in Tijuana, sharing the growing confusion

and desperation among migrants in Mexico. First, let’s go to Netta. Live in San Ysidro at the border fence, Netta. Thank you, Eric. And Evan, you got a lot of commotion right here along the border fence. So we’ve been in San Ysidro all morning hearing countless stories of people from various countries who have been trying to gain asylum here in the United States. And the situation here is getting more and more desperate as more people are out here waiting for help. They’re here waiting for word from Border Patrol on what will happen to them next. I

was just speaking with a woman from Ghana. She traveled all the way from Ghana. She was in tears explaining. To me that her journey was not an easy one at all. She wished she could have been here with her family, but she’s here alone, waiting, scared, trying to get any kind of communication from customs, from Border Patrol. We’ve all been waiting for that. Let’s show you some video here from earlier today. Out here waiting. We saw a lot of families as they were waking up here this morning. We were here as well, hearing babies crying

through the overnight early morning hours. We spoke with a family who. Who smoked Farsi and they were begging me to give them a bowl and fortunately did not have one. But they needed a bowl to try to heat up water over a fire so they can give their baby milk. So stories like this are happening here. A lot of the parents worried about their kids because these are uncomfortable conditions for them. They need medicine. Some of them do, so they’re trying to get that assistance. Many volunteers have been out here trying to provide the hot

water or the food and cold water that they. Might need the shelter, things like that, but unfortunately all they have right now are trash bags, aluminum foil basically that serves as somewhat of a shelter. Also want to show you what we saw just about an hour ago. Within the hour, the presence of Border Patrol has been something to watch. We saw a lot of agents coming through. Into this area where these migrants have been waiting for days, some of them up to five days, and Border Patrol has been talking to them. We do know the

migrants have put themselves in lines in different groups so that Border Patrol could come through and take the groups that they want to take. Families with children for example, or single women or single men people from certain countries 1st. And we did see a few of them go with Border Patrol up a hill. As far as what’s next, that is uncertain. So we are still waiting to find out. We’ve asked Border Patrol multiple times. They say they cannot speak with the media. We’ve spoken with county leaders who say they believe Border Patrol may take them

to processing facilities here in San Diego and then put them through the asylum seeking process. For so many of these people, they of course want to gain asylum in the US They want to be able to tell their story of what they’ve went through in their home countries. We’ve talked multiple times with multiple people, I should say in different languages as well. Some of course, Spanish speaking, many Farsi speaking as well, and I’ve been able to hear from them. Some came all the way from Moscow and Russia, others Istanbul and Turkey, Colombia, Ghana, as I

just mentioned, Venezuela, Many people dealing with dangers in their home countries and that’s why they are gathering here. But I can tell you out of all the people we’ve spoken with, they did not expect the conditions to be the way they are. Here right now. So we are going to stay live here at the border, continuing to speak with people. There are a lot of volunteers here as well who we will also be speaking with. For now, we want to send it over to the other side of the border in Tijuana. That’s where CBS8’s Richard

Allen has been. You’ve been covering what’s been going on there, Richard. We know the shelters there have been full for years since Title 42 is put in place. What now that Title 42 is coming to an end? Well, that’s right. Now to here in Tijuana, there remains a lot of confusion over exactly what the end of Title 42 later tonight will mean, will mean for thousands of migrants from all over the world who have journeyed here to this border city, staying now in dozens of shelters scattered throughout Tijuana. Each of them with their own reasons

why they left their home countries and made the often dangerous journey here in the 1st place with the hope of eventually being able to make it to the other side, the other side. Inside, of course, being the United States. But in speaking with many of these migrants here, there are some common threads. They say they cannot remain in their home countries because it’s simply too dangerous for them. There are no economic opportunities because they lack basic freedoms back home. And we met one migrant staying here for the past three months from El Salvador who had

been physically attacked with a machete by a criminal gang back home. His entire family’s lives threatened. Another woman from Guatemala who’s lesbian came here with her partner and their little girl escaping what she calls the. Homophobia and the extremely bad conditions there and praying for a shot at a better life in the US And we also spoke early this morning with Nicole Ramos. Now she is director of the Border Rights Project at Altodo Lado. Now that’s a nonprofit which is working on the ground here in Tijuana with the migrants, helping provide them with legal advice.

We’re seeing a lot of confusion among migrants because the US government has very done very little to provide accurate and timely information about what they can expect. We see people that are congregating near the fence because they are receiving information that they could possibly enter through that way. We see some people lining up at the port of entry because other individuals have told them that would be the process. But essentially the government has provided no information to the migrant community. And what we’re seeing is mass confusion. Mass confusion Now back out here live in Tijuana.

Nicole Ramos from Al Oto Rolado. She says she, along with other nonprofits throughout Tijuana, will be working directly with the migrants at different shelters today. They plan on fanning out, meeting with the migrants in the shelters, helping to provide them with legal guidance and advice and assistance to counter a lot of the misinformation that they’re hearing now coming up at 11:30. Has been a lot of frustration and confusion over the requirement that migrants must use that CBP One app to schedule an appointment for asylum. We’ll have more on that coming up at 11:30. For now,

though, let’s toss it to the other side of the border where my colleague Shannon Handy is waiting. She is live at PED W Shannon. What’s the situation there? Thanks, Richard. Well, obviously this situation has had a trickle down effect and that has impacted traffic times for people that are coming into the United States from Mexico. And these are people that are crossing at the port of entry by foot, by car. Behind me here at the Santa Cedia port of entry, you can see traffic backed up, which is normal. You usually see these types of lines

here at the port of entry. We’ve been monitoring wait times all morning long. At this point they are above average. Here’s the. Latest If you’re in the general lanes coming in through San Ysidro, it will take you 190 minutes. According to CVP, average wait time at this hour is 145 minutes. Now if you have century, no problem, it’s only taking 10 minutes or so. Over no time. Mesa driving through in the general lanes will take you 90 minutes, which is just a few minutes longer than usual. Century is only taking 15 Now, however, let’s get

you guys to some chopper video we shot earlier today here in San Ysidro. We’re hearing from viewers. It’s actually taking much longer. No matter what lane you’re in, we’re talking hours longer, and that’s because of what you’re seeing in this video. The wait times are measured between certain distances, but do not account for the time it takes people to drive through the streets of Tijuana just to get to the port of entries. You can see in this video traffic backed up quite a distance earlier this week the US consulate in Tijuana do warn about longer

wait times at the border ahead of Title 42 expiring. They say if you are crossing into the US, plan ahead. Make sure your car is in good condition and has enough gas. Bring water, snacks and essential medication. Now back out here live again, you are looking at some of that backup. There’s a number of reasons for this backup, one possibly being that agents are positioned elsewhere. We. Of course, have been reporting all along the border wall, have seen several Border Patrol agents including Annetta’s live shot there. So that’s one issue that may be contributing to

this weight and again. It’s a lot of confusion, a lot of frustration. We have reached out to Border Patrol to find out exactly what’s contributing to this part of the issue. We do know that they actually did close down the port of entry here for a training exercise last night. And so it’s believed that that also has contributed to these wait times because there was a backlog of drivers that couldn’t get through last night. So they’re trying to cross now. So just keep that in mind. Check online, check on cbs8.com for those updated wait times

and for more on this growing crisis, let’s go back. Back to Neda, who’s along the border wall not far from here. Neda, Shannon, thank you. And Shannon, as you know as well, a lot of people have been showing up here because their hearts are breaking over what they’re seeing. Just on the other side of the fence, just feet away from where we’re standing. We’re seeing little kids with, you know, a baseball basically trying to pass the time as they wait and wait. But obviously these are not comfortable conditions, very uncomfortable in the heat of the

sun at night, they are cold and Tony. He is joining us here this hour. Hi, Tony. You’ve been touched by what you’re seeing here. Tell me what it’s like for you to be at the border and what you’re also trying to do to help a lot of these people. OK. I came out here yesterday and just, you know, see what I could do. I talked to the goodwill ambassadors and once I made eye contact with some of these people, it just took, you know, my emotion to a whole another level. You know, it’s it’s something

that you can’t. Unse And at the same time, I can’t look away. You know, I really feel for these people. You see the pain, fear and sadness on their face. It’s it’s it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s hard for us to see it as well. This is happening in our region, right? This is our border. And you went through big effort this morning to try to bring some comfort. Tell us about that. Yeah, So I got up this morning, made 100 sandwiches. I got 20 pounds of apples, a bunch of water. They said they needed medicine,

so I I brought a bunch of aspirin and warm clothing and blankets that I got for my family. It’s it’s really important to us. My mom immigrated here in 1947 from Cuba. Tony, thank you for what you’re doing. I know we’ve heard from a lot of people from so many different countries, unfortunately, trash bags. And this foil is kind of all they’ve had. So the blankets, the food certainly will help. Tony, thank you for anything I can do. My mom’s name is Tony. She loves you. Thank you. My name is Dennis. I apologize. Your mom

is Tony. This is Dennis. Thank you very much. And hi, mom out there. Yeah, We appreciate you being here. And obviously these people do as well because. He’s about to give them a hundred sandwiches. We’ve heard from county officials that yesterday some of these people have only got water and a granola bar. Many volunteer groups are bringing warm food today. That’s their plan, and that will hopefully help ease some of the discomfort that many people are going through. For now, we are live here at the border. We’re going to send it back to you in

studio.

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