Musk raises concern about scant media coverage of US migrant crisis

The billionaire owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has blasted the scant media coverage of the US border crisis after footage of an overcrowded processing center in Texas was uploaded to the popular platform.

Republican Texas congressman Tony Gonzales filmed hundreds of asylum-seekers at a migrant processing center which was published on Twitter by FOX News correspondent Bill Melugin.

The video shows hundreds of migrants, including women and children, lying on the floor of the facility covered with what appear to be aluminum space blankets.

Gonzales told FOX News that on Friday, when the footage was recorded, the Border Patrol Central Processing Center in El Paso was holding some 4,600 asylum-seekers in federal custody, well above the facility’s official maximum capacity of only 1,040.

Musk responded to Melugin’s tweet by asking why some media outlets were not covering the issue despite Border Patrol agents becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of asylum-seekers crossing into the United States.

“Why do so few report about the millions of people crossing the border?” Musk questioned.

NEW: Video provided to @FoxNews by TX Congressman @RepTonyGonzales shows extreme overcrowding at the Border Patrol Central Processing Center in El Paso, TX. Congressman Gonzales says he took the video on Friday, when 4,600 migrants were in federal custody. Capacity is only 1,040. pic.twitter.com/dpvH0NNseJ

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 18, 2022

The US Democratic Party had earlier voiced concern following Musk’s emergence as the new leader of Twitter after he took control of the giant social media platform in October in a $44 billion deal.

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Musk’s Twitter purchase has been a source of joy and relief for the US Republican Party.

Firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, whose personal account was banned after multiple violations of Twitter’s disinformation rules, tweeted from her official account before the deal had been finalized, “Prepare for blue check mark full-scale meltdown after @elonmusk seals the deal and I should get my personal Twitter account restored.”

On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court issued a temporary order to keep the Trump-era limits on migrants under an order known as Title 42, which imposed COVID health restrictions, in place.

Republican states won a reprieve, though it could be brief, as they continue efforts to keep the measure that allows officials to reject most of the asylum-seekers.

In a last-ditch written appeal to the Supreme Court, Republicans argued that an increased numbers of asylum-seekers would take a toll on public services such as law enforcement and health care and warned of an “unprecedented calamity” in the south.

Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay pending further order, asking the Biden administration to respond by 5 p.m. Tuesday. That's just hours before Title 42 restrictions are scheduled to expire on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for enforcing border security, acknowledged the judge's order, and also said the agency would continue "preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly, and humane way when the Title 42 public health order lifts.”

Meanwhile, asylum-seekers arriving in the US have been rejected in 2.5 million instances since March 2020 on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19 under Title 42.

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In Texas, El Paso's Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said on Monday that refugee camps in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez were packed to capacity with an estimated 20,000 asylum-seekers.

He said the City of El Paso had rushed its efforts to expand its ability to accommodate more asylum-seekers by converting large buildings into shelters, as the Red Cross brings in 10,000 cots.

Local officials also said they hope to relieve pressure on local shelters by chartering buses to other large cities in Texas or nearby states, bringing asylum-seekers a step closer to relatives and sponsors in coordination with nonprofit groups.

“We will continue to be prepared for whatever is coming through,” Leeser asserted.

Republican leaning states have complained that lifting Title 42 will lead to an influx of asylum-seekers into their states and take a toll on government services like health care or law enforcement.

The Republicans claim that the federal government has no plan to deal with the influx of refugees into the US, while in Washington.

In the meantime, Biden administration officials said they have deployed additional resources to the southern border in preparation for the expiration of Title 42. That includes more border patrol processing coordinators, more surveillance and increased security at ports of entry, in addition to sending some 23,000 border agents to the south.

Title 42 has been used against all nationalities; however, it has disproportionately affected those hailing from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico.

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