U.S. postpones "Remain in Mexico" hearings due to coronavirus
An attorney said it was a good public health move, but noted that migrants are disheartened that they won't be able to make their case to win U.S. asylum anytime soon.
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Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization's social media accounts.
Montoya-Galvez has received numerous awards for his groundbreaking and in-depth reporting on immigration, including a national Emmy Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and several New York Emmy Awards.
Over several years, he has built one of the leading and most trusted national sources of immigration news, filing breaking news pieces, as well as exclusive reports and in-depth feature stories on the impact of major policy changes.
Montoya-Galvez was the first reporter to obtain and publish the names of the Venezuelan deportees sent by the U.S. to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, with little to no due process. Using that list, he co-produced a "60 Minutes" report that found most of the deported men did not have apparent criminal records, despite the administration's claims that they were all dangerous criminals and gang members. Montoya-Galvez was also the first journalist to interview Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and imprisoned at the CECOT prison.
In 2025 alone, Montoya Galvez broke dozens of other exclusive stories. He disclosed the internal Trump administration plan to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela; landed the first national network sit-down interviews with the current heads of ICE and Border Patrol; and obtained government data showing that illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2025 plummeted to the lowest level since 1970 amid Trump's crackdown.
Montoya Galvez's North Star is to cover immigration with nuance and fairness, in a nonpartisan, comprehensive and compelling way that respects the dignity of those at the center of this story
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.
Montoya-Galvez was born in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, and raised in New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree in Media and Journalism Studies and Spanish from Rutgers University.
An attorney said it was a good public health move, but noted that migrants are disheartened that they won't be able to make their case to win U.S. asylum anytime soon.
A dozen migrant children in U.S. custody have been tested for the virus. Five results came back negative and the rest are pending.
The Trump administration is citing a public health law that allows officials to deny entry to foreigners who could carry a disease.
"Can you imagine if you get an outbreak in these detention facilities? It's going to spread like wildfire," a former head of ICE told CBS News.
The president said he would invoke a law that allows officials to turn away migrants.
Thursday's announcement will likely come as a relief for the Trump administration as it continues its efforts to deter migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The agency still has not addressed calls to downsize its detainee population to prevent a coronavirus outbreak inside its scores of detention centers.
Under the deal, the Trump administration has deported more than 930 Honduran and Salvadoran asylum-seekers to Guatemala.
Advocates say the detainees, who have health conditions ranging from heart disease to epilepsy, are at risk of getting severely ill or dying.
The two Democratic presidential hopefuls drew sharp contrast with President Trump's stringent immigration policies.
The move comes as the agency faces growing calls to release asylum-seekers in its custody who do not pose a threat to public safety.
A federal appeals court had found the policy illegal, saying migrants subjected to it "risk substantial harm" and "even death."
Maria Celéste Ochoa Yoc de Ramírez died after six months in ICE custody.
Military personnel are being sent to help officials respond to large groups of migrants it believes may form if courts block one of its main policies to restrict asylum.
The small uptick in apprehensions in February could be a sign of the limits of the administration's deterrence policies.