Homeland Security secretary visits San Diego to celebrate border reopening with mayor – The San Diego Union-Tribune

The head of the Department of Homeland Security visited San Diego on Tuesday to celebrate with Mayor Todd Gloria that the land border has finally reopened to tourists following its pandemic closure.

During a press availability with the car lanes of the San Ysidro Port of Entry as the backdrop, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas referred to Gloria as a “partner” and applauded the collaboration that his department had with the mayor’s team. He focused on the economic benefits that cross-border travel brings to the region and reiterated the requirements for nonessential travelers to be able to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter from the land border with Mexico.

“We’re extraordinarily excited we are seeing economic prosperity return in full force,” Mayorkas said.

The mayor touted the high vaccination levels in both San Diego and Tijuana that helped bring about the reopening for nonessential travelers who have documents such as visas permitting them to enter the United States. He said that Mayorkas and the rest of the Biden administration stayed in close contact with his office.

“The reopening of our border to nonessential travel was about more than bringing back our economy or supporting local businesses, as important as those things are,” Gloria said. “This was about people. This was about San Diegans being able to get together with their family and loved ones and being able to make our region whole again.”

Gloria said that he’s since been in communication with DHS about the rise in wait times at the border and that they were addressing the issue “aggressively.”

The border reopening notably does not include asylum seekers.

Mayorkas’ visit comes as the Biden administration this week reimplements the “Remain in Mexico” program that began under former President Donald Trump.

Both President Joe Biden and Mayorkas have spoken out against the program, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases proceed in the United States. Mayorkas initially ended the program, but a federal judge in Texas ordered that it be reinstated after the states of Texas and Missouri sued.

When asked about Remain in Mexico on Tuesday, Mayorkas said that the Biden is working to reimplement it because of the court order.

He did not directly address a question about why the program is expanding to include nationalities such as Haitians and Jamaicans that were not previously enrolled. The federal judge did not order any expansion of the program based on nationality.

Mayorkas also defended the Biden administration’s decision to continue using Title 42, another Trump-era policy, to expel migrants to Mexico or their home countries without the opportunity to request asylum as is normally required under both U.S. and international law.

“We are not yet in a position where we have put the pandemic entirely behind us,” he said. “When we have put the pandemic behind us, we will not use that authority to expel individuals.”

Many health experts have said that Title 42 is not necessary to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

Outside the port of entry, a small group of activists made up of immigration attorneys and other advocates who have worked with asylum seekers stuck in Tijuana chanted in protest over both Title 42 expulsions and the return of Remain in Mexico.

Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said the most upsetting part about the return of Remain in Mexico is its expansion to include more nationalities that are likely to present as Black migrants. She said they are among the most vulnerable in an already-vulnerable population.

“It’s horrific, and it will directly lead to people losing their lives,” she said.