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U.S. NEWS Saturday 21 May 2022
Migrants cross border amid legal uncertainty on asylum rule

By ELLIOT SPAGAT by the U.S. and last month
Associated Press also started taking in limit-
EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — ed numbers of Cubans and
As U.S. officials anxiously Nicaraguans who have
waited, many of the mi- been turned away by U.S.
grants crossing the bor- authorities.
der from Mexico on Friday Nolberto Avila, a small cof-
were oblivious to a pend- fee grower who fled threats
ing momentous court rul- of violence in Colombia
ing on whether to maintain and left his mother and a
pandemic-related pow- sibling there to manage the
ers that deny a chance to harvests, had never heard
seek asylum on grounds of of Title 42 in the social me-
preventing the spread of dia channels that migrants
COVID-19. consult to determine whom
The Justice Department, they can trust and whom
hoping to avoid last-minute and what to avoid. Online
scrambling over the week- chatter directed him to
end, asked U.S. District Eagle Pass after he flew to
Judge Robert Summerhays Cancun and took buses to
to decide by Friday wheth- the U.S border.
er to keep Title 42 in place “It feels good to be here,”
while litigation proceeds. said Avila, 30, who spent
The judge in Lafayette, Lou- Migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. are under custody of National Guard $3,000 on airfare and other
isiana, has said he would members as they await the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Friday, May travel expenses, such as
20, 2022.
decide by Monday, when Associated Press bribes to Mexican soldiers.
the public health powers His ultimate destination is
are scheduled to expire. Ana Pinales of the Do- of Piedras Negras. After ing her time in a park in the Los Angeles.
Migrants crossing in Eagle minican Republic, who several hours, an agent southern city of Tapachula. A group of about 150 most-
Pass, Texas, knew little or reached Eagle Pass after arrived for them, reliev- She said she also frequent- ly Cuban migrants assem-
nothing about the rule un- three years of living illegally ing armed Texas National ly paid bribes to get past bled on Friday a short dis-
der which migrants have in Chile, where she was un- Guard members who had Mexican military check- tance south of the bridge,
been expelled more than able to find steady work, watched over the group points. having swum and walked
1.9 million times since waded across the river as golfers played on an ad- Title 42 has largely affected across the river in smaller
March 2020. They were before dawn and walked joining riverfront course. people from Mexico, Gua- groups over several hours
largely from Cuba, Colom- down a dirt road with “Everyone in the world temala, Honduras and El since a few hours before
bia, Nicaragua and Ven- about 35 Nicaraguans and knows about this route,” Salvador, many of whom dawn.
ezuela — nationalities that 25 Cubans, searching for Pinales, 28, said with a have been waiting in Mexi- Border Patrol agents lined
have mostly been spared U.S. Border Patrol agents to smile, relieved that she can border towns after be- them up single file and di-
from the asylum ban be- claim asylum. She walked was nearly at the end of ing denied the right to seek rected them into vans to
cause high costs, strained longer than the rest and a two-month journey that asylum by the U.S. govern- go to a processing area.
diplomatic relations or met about 15 other mi- took her through Panama’s ment. Mexico has agreed About two-thirds were
other considerations make grants waiting under one notorious Darien Gap and to accept migrants from men, nearly all the rest
it difficult for the U.S. to fly of Eagle Pass’ two bridges Mexico, where she was those three Central Ameri- were women and some
them home. to the Mexican border city robbed of $3,000 while bid- can countries turned back were young children.q

U.S. official: Biden mulls Cuba invitation

for Americas summit

By MATTHEW LEE and The U.S. official declined to President Andrés Manuel
CHRIS MEGERIAN be identified while speak- López Obrador threaten-
Associated Press ing about sensitive deliber- ing to skip because Cuba,
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- ations. A spokesperson for Venezuela and Nicaragua
dent Joe Biden is consider- the National Security Coun- weren’t expected to be in-
ing inviting a Cuban repre- cil did not respond to a re- vited.
sentative to the Summit of quest for comment about Chris Dodd, a former U.S.
the Americas, a U.S. official whether Cuba would be senator from Connecticut
said Friday, as his adminis- invited. The Summit of the chosen by Biden as a spe-
tration tries to salvage an Americas involves coun- cial adviser for the summit,
event that risks collapsing tries across the Americas, spent two hours on Zoom Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel, right, and his Mexican
over disagreements about stretching from Canada with López Obrador this counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, left, raise their arms
the guest list.It’s unclear if to Chile. It is scheduled to week. during a ceremony to award the Jose Marti order to President
Cuba would accept the begin in a little more than Jake Sullivan, Biden’s na- Lopez Obrador, at Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba, Sunday,
invitation, the U.S. official two weeks in Los Angeles, tional security adviser, told May 8, 2022.
said, which would be ex- in the United States for the reporters aboard Air Force Associated Press
tended to someone in the first time since the inaugural One on Friday the admin- López Obrador said Friday “We have a very good re-
foreign ministry to join as an event in Miami in 1994. istration is having “candid that the summit was still be- lationship with President
observer — but not the for- But the planning has been and constructive conversa- ing analyzed and that “we Biden,” he said, adding
eign minister himself, and marred by confusion, with tions,” but declined to say want everyone to be invit- that “we have been in
not as a full participant. key leaders like Mexican more. ed.” talks.”q