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Tensions rise at the southern border
Migrants streamed across the U.S.-Mexico border today and more gathered in makeshift camps, waiting for the end to America’s pandemic-era restrictions. Border agents, soldiers and local officials worked to maintain order as migrants lined up at international bridges and huddled on the sidewalks of American border towns.
The pressure at the border was prompted by the imminent lifting of a Covid-era policy, known as Title 42, which for three years has allowed the government to swiftly expel millions of people seeking asylum on public health grounds. U.S. officials expect the lifting of the policy at midnight tonight to cause a surge in border crossings from Mexico. Follow our live coverage.
In some places along the border in Arizona and Texas, hundreds of people from a range of countries, including Peru, Brazil, Ghana and Thailand, waited in lines to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents and request asylum. Elsewhere, Texas National Guard troops laid out barbed wire, preventing migrants from entering the country.
“All I want to do is work and raise my son somewhere where we aren’t afraid of violence,” said Francisco Ortiz, 32, who arrived at the border from Honduras with his wife and one-year-old son. He said he is hoping to work in construction in the U.S., but is worried. “We want to follow the rules but it’s hard. I don’t know when we’ll get the chance to finally cross.”
No one knows exactly what to expect when Title 42 expires, but a surge has already begun: More than 11,000 migrants have crossed the southern border illegally in each of the past two days, up from about 6,000 on a typical busy day.
The Biden administration said they have prepared for an influx, sending 1,500 troops to the border while also offering more pathways to legal immigration.
For more: Our photographers captured images on both sides of the border.
Covid surveillance shifts to the sewers
Many of the data streams that have helped Americans monitor the virus will go dark when the public health emergency for Covid expires tonight. In response, communities are racing to set up wastewater surveillance programs for the first time.
People who are infected with the coronavirus shed the pathogen in their stool, enabling officials to track levels of the virus in communities over time and to watch for the emergence of new variants. But experts say more work is needed to turn what was an ad hoc effort at the beginning of the pandemic into a sustainable national system.
For more: We mapped the Covid death toll. The virus is still killing a thousand Americans every week.
E. Jean Carroll may sue Trump for a third time
E. Jean Carroll is weighing whether to file a new defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump in the wake of his diatribe against her during a CNN town hall last night, her lawyer said. One day after a federal jury ordered Trump to pay her $5 million for sexual abuse and defamation, he said her claim of a decades-old sexual assault was “fake” and a “made-up story.” Carroll told The Times in an interview that Trump’s diatribe against her was “disgusting, vile, foul” and “stupid.”
Charges in subway chokehold killing
Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old Marine veteran who choked and killed a 30-year-old homeless man, Jordan Neely, on the subway last week, will be arrested tomorrow and charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to the Manhattan district attorney.
The police interviewed Penny shortly after the killing, but released him without charges. Soon after, video of the incident set off protests, with many activists saying it highlighted the city’s failure to care for its most vulnerable and marginalized residents.
More top news
The original influencer
Before “likes" were a thing and “influencer” was a career path, there was Heather Armstrong, who died this week at 47.
Armstrong was hailed as the “queen of the mommy bloggers” more than a decade ago. Her blog, dooce.com, offered millions of readers something they couldn’t find elsewhere: A mother who was willing to discuss the mess and chaos of her life. In a voice that was raw, arch, vulnerable and often funny, Armstrong ushered in a golden age of women making themselves heard on the internet.
Is everyone playing padel without us?
Padel and pickleball are both easy-to-learn racket sports that exploded in popularity during the pandemic. But many Americans have only heard of pickleball, even as padel has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
In the U.S., the divide is still between the grand old game of tennis and the fast-growing newcomer pickleball, with private clubs and public facilities caught in the middle. They’re grappling with how to accommodate both sports and also protect themselves from shifting tastes.
Can you pick a murder hornet out of a lineup?
As the summer approaches, you’re likely to notice wasps and hornets buzzing around you. But can you tell the difference between a common yellowjacket and a so-called murder hornet, which is invasive in North America?
