Judge orders U.S. to reinstate "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy
The Trump-era policy required 70,000 non-Mexican asylum applicants to wait for their U.S. court hearings in Mexico, often in squalid tent camps and dangerous border towns.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is an award-winning reporter covering immigration for CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple CBS News and Stations platforms, including the CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and CBS News Radio.
Montoya-Galvez is also part of CBS News' team of 2024 political campaign reporters.
Montoya-Galvez joined CBS News in 2018 and has reported hundreds of articles on immigration, the U.S. immigration policy, the contentious debate on the topic, and connected issues. He's landed exclusive stories and developed in-depth reports on the impact of significant policy changes. He's also extensively reported on the people affected by a complex immigration system.
Before joining CBS News, Montoya-Galvez spent over two years as an investigative unit producer and assignment desk editor at Telemundo's television station in New York City. His work at Telemundo earned three New York Emmy Awards.
Earlier, he was the founding editor of After the Final Whistle, an online bilingual publication featuring stories that highlight soccer's role in contemporary society.
He was born in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, and raised in northern New Jersey.
He earned a bachelor's degree in media and journalism studies/Spanish from Rutgers University.
The Trump-era policy required 70,000 non-Mexican asylum applicants to wait for their U.S. court hearings in Mexico, often in squalid tent camps and dangerous border towns.
In the past six weeks, ICE has reported over 5,000 new coronavirus cases among immigrants in its detention facilities.
By minimizing the "chilling effect" of potential deportation, the policy change can encourage undocumented immigrants to contact law enforcement, ICE argued.
The efforts mark a new, more stringent chapter in the Biden administration's border policy.
"My anxiety attacks have been abnormal here — they have gotten worse since I arrived," a 16-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador said in a court declaration.
After August 30, 36 Texas-based shelters housing migrant children in federal care will no longer be regulated or inspected by state officials.
Children born abroad to couples who used assisted reproductive technology, like surrogacy, will now qualify for U.S. citizenship, even if the U.S. parent is not biologically related to them.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state authorities last week to stop and re-route vehicles suspected of transporting migrants who crossed the southern border illegally.
By citing a public health law, U.S. officials at the southern border have been able to expel migrants to Mexico or their home countries without allowing them to apply for humanitarian refuge.
Incidents of self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts among migrant children housed at Fort Bliss have alarmed federal officials who worked at the site.
U.S. border officials have been using a public health law first invoked by the Trump administration to expel some migrants without allowing them to request asylum.
Border Patrol holding facilities for unaccompanied children and families could become dangerously overcrowded due to Texas' order, the Biden administration argued in its lawsuit.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, instructed state authorities to stop vehicles suspected of transporting migrants, alleging that they could spread the coronavirus.
"I feel frustrated that there's significant opposition to giving us an opportunity for something we didn't choose to do. We were kids. We didn't choose this," said 18-year-old Agustin, who applied for DACA this year.
Migrant children housed at the Fort Bliss tent camp "felt like they were in prison and often begged 'please get me out of here, I don't know if I can take it anymore,'" according to a new whistleblower complaint.