Chaos at US border is exactly what Biden wanted to avoid – with women and children outnumbering men
The chaos and confusion at the border today is exactly what President Joe Biden wanted to avoid when he announced a major change in immigration policy.
A makeshift campsite has sprung up between two 30ft fences which divide San Diego in the United States from Tijuana in Mexico.
There has been a significant increase in the number of migrants in recent weeks at crossings along the 2,000 mile (3,219km) long border.
People have been anticipating the lifting of Title 42, a COVID-era policy, first introduced by the Trump administration, which allowed migrants to be swiftly expelled on public health grounds.
There has been a surge in migrants seeking to cross the border
Volunteers pass nappies, water, sun cream and other supplies through gaps in the metal slats.
But a dispute breaks out over blankets.
“Back up, back up, we are stopping the distribution,” one charity worker shouts.
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The El Paso church that has become a symbol of the broken US immigration system
There is no shelter to protect themselves from the baking sun in the day and the bracing cold at night.
Many have been here for several days already and tell me they are receiving little food and water.
It is usually single men at this crossing but now they are outnumbered by women, children and babies.
Some have tied sheets of tarpaulin, cardboard and even bin bags to the fence in an effort to create a tent to give themselves some privacy.
‘Little dignity’
But there is little dignity here as they hand mobile phones through the fence in the hope someone on the US side of the border might be able to charge them, so they can let friends and family back home know where they are.
People have come from all over the world, from central and South America, from Asia and Europe.
Everyone here has an individual story, a reason for why they are trying to enter the US, often after a harrowing journey.
I speak to two women, a gay couple from Jamaica, who say they cannot live freely there.
A Catholic family from Jordan, with a one year old baby, have been on the road now for two months, fleeing religious persecution – they say – in their home country.
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What happens after Title 42 expires?
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Biden administration proposes tougher rules at border
Aid worker Adriana Jasso, from the Quaker organisation, American Friends Service Committee, hands trainers through the fence.
She has witnessed a dramatic change in the make-up of the group of people on the other side.
She said: “We have seen more women with children, more family units.
“We had some babies sleeping out in the open for a few nights. We are concerned about the fact that some of the families have been here for three nights, for four days.”
A woman from Kenya tells me she believes the lifting of Title 42 will make it easier to gain asylum in the US.
Someone else says they believed there was a midnight deadline to be processed by border authorities.
Amid the uncertainty, the Biden administration sought to deter people travelling to the border.
Secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas tweeted: “Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.”
But thousands are already here or on their way.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
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The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
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Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
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Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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