Homeland Security Warns Migrants of Dangerous Conditions on Border

The federal government issued a stark warning to migrants seeking to cross America’s southern border over the Christmas weekend: Do so at your own peril because of the dangerously low temperatures.The Department of Homeland Security warned that it will “fully enforce” the Title 42 rule allowing it to immediately expel many asylum-seekers following a Supreme Court stay on the program issued last week.The department warned of “dangerously low” temperatures along the border, and encouraged would-be migrants not to “put their lives in the hands of smugglers, or risk life and limb attempting to cross only to be returned.”On Friday night, the federal government announced a record number of border crossings in November. The Border Patrol reported more than 233,000 encounters with migrants at the border for the month.Meanwhile, at Washington, the vice president received some unexpected visitors on Christmas Eve, when three buses filled with recent migrants pulled up to the Naval Observatory courtesy of the governor of Texas, Greg Abott.At the vice president’s residence, more than 100 migrants unloaded — some of whom were wearing only T-shirts in the sub-freezing weather. The Washington Post reported it was the coldest Christmas in the nation’s capital on record.It’s not just border cities that are struggling to contain the influx of asylum-seekers. Mr. Abbott began bussing migrants out of his state to cities in the northeast in April.“By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., Texas is sending a clear message: We should not have to bear the burden of the federal government’s inaction to secure the border,” Mr Abbott has said.Mayor Bowser of Washington during the summer first asked the federal government for help with the loads of migrants being bused to her city.In a July letter to Secretary Austin, Ms. Bowser called the situation at Washington a “humanitarian crisis” that “requires a federal response” before requesting activation of the National Guard.In August, Mr. Abbott began chartering buses bound for New York as well. “New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Mr. Abbott said in an August statement.The cost of providing those services, however, has taken a toll on the city. As of December 18, an estimated 31,000 migrants had arrived at New York City.A bipartisan group of eight New York City Council members is now asking the president to declare a federal emergency.The group says that would allow it access to FEMA funding for the cost of providing services to the newcomers. Mr. Adams declared a state of emergency in October in the city and has since requested $1 billion from the federal government to offset expenses from the city’s migrant intake services.“These services, which have already cost our taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, are only growing as more buses of migrants arrive each day,” Council Member Robert Holden of Queens wrote in a letter to Washington. “We are asking the President to declare the asylum seeker crisis an emergency so that FEMA may reimburse New York City for the entire costs of addressing it.”

Homeland Security Warns Migrants of Dangerous Conditions on Border

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