By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]
The southern border of the United States is experiencing one of its worst crises in terms of immigration policy, despite the efforts of President Biden to provide a solution to millions of "dreamers" and migrants seeking to leave their undocumented status, 6 months after a series of anti-immigrant executive actions carried out by his predecessor, Donald Trump, were reversed.
This was pointed out by experts on migration issues during a session with the media conducted by Ethnic Media ServicesWhile they noted that there are intentions to improve the conditions of more than 11 million people with irregular immigration status, they also agree that it is not enough.
Muzaffar Chishti, director of the office of the Migration Policy Institute at New York University School of Law, noted that the Trump administration was one of the most aggressive on immigration, as in 4 years his office issued nearly 250 executive actions.
Contrary to Joe Biden, who so far has taken 155 actions on immigration policy, where half of them have been to turn around those issued in the Trump administration, the specialist said.
"Biden ended Trump's travel bans, stopped construction of the border wall; and on the first day of his administration announced an aggressive immigration reform package to legalize 11 million, a fact not seen in another presidency in the last 50 years," he added.
However, it has not all been good, as the crisis on the country's southern border has been the main focus of danger in terms of migration.
"In July of this year, 200,000 people were arrested at the border. That's a historic number since 2005. If we let these numbers continue, we will be talking about more than 1.5 million in this fiscal year 2021," Chishti said.
He also recalled that asylum applications have increased and is expected to rise to 225,000 for the next fiscal year, a figure similar to what President Barack Obama had promised for the end of his administration.
He said that the profile of those seeking to achieve the American dream is of Mexicans, Central Americans and other countries of the continent, both single men, women, children and entire families.
"This has created a political problem for the president because all the attention is on the border, especially because Trump is stalking Republicans behind the scenes. That's why the president wants to push immigration reform through amnesty or a law."
For that to happen, however, "you need congressional action, and Congress is divided. Unless you get 60 senators to support it, immigration reform is not going anywhere.
Moreover, he said, as long as the Republican wing continues to view the border as "out of control," few will join Biden's immigration reform.
"If we don't get 10 Republicans behind immigration reform, it's going to be very difficult to get it passed," he said.
Currently, the 70,000 people under the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), better known as the Stay in Mexico Program, only active cases are being processed, which hardens the situation of thousands at the border, said the director of the Border Rights Project of the organization Al Otro Lado, Nicole Ramos.
"Thousands of people have stayed in Mexico, some for up to two years. We now have approximately 50,000 closed cases. Instead of reopening all the cases, they've chosen to do it on a case-by-case basis, which leaves people stuck in Mexico for longer periods of time."
The migration situation is complicated when unaccompanied minors are involved
The Border Patrol returns unaccompanied minors, exposing them to greater dangers, which is why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit.
"When minors are accompanied by an advocate who advocates for them, they can enter, but not when they go alone. I'm not going to say that all of them are returned, but they are returned with an alarming frequency".
This reflects the continuation of a migration policy that sends asylum seekers back to Mexico while their applications are being processed, which could take months. And with the current pandemic, the situation becomes tragic.
"It's a complicated issue. We understand that dealing with the pandemic is a health issue, but U.S. citizens and legal residents can enter and leave the country without being subject to any health screening."
He further stated that "we just got word from the government that they are going to stop applications for humanitarian protection in connection with the ACLU case. It's very troubling because it will create a bigger backlog of people who are literally dying to make their asylum claims.
Thus, under the Title 42 removal program there is an open market for organized crime and human traffickers.
"Kidnappings of migrants at the border have increased dramatically, and we've seen tens of thousands of dollars being sent to organized crime in Mexico to pay the ransom."
Added to this is the return of mothers with newborns in the U.S. who did not have the opportunity to receive a birth certificate. "This happens when the mother crosses the border without inspection and during the course of the immigration process gives birth".
"Some mothers don't even speak Spanish. We've seen it with Mexican mothers, mothers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti," she added.
As a result, she explained that many mothers end up sleeping on the streets in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. "If they are lucky, they can meet a social worker who can find them a place in a shelter.
Migration policy: the two sides of the coin
While it is true that the situation at the border is a "horror show," on the other hand, "there is tangible progress every day in the immigration courts and we are seeing fewer people in deportation," said immigration attorney Ava Benach.
He explained that under Trump there were 60,000 migrants in detention, a number that went to 30,000 so far in the Biden administration. "It's better than with Trump, but it's not where we want to be."
The Washington, D.C.-based lawyer said that the mentality of many Americans regarding migration has changed in the last 20 years, with a much better perspective on migrants, noting that while at the end of the 20th century, most Americans did not see migration as a good thing, today 60 percent of the population considers it beneficial.
Reds and blues
In political terms, the situation has become polarized, as Republicans are less and less in favor of migrants, while Democrats are the opposite. "There is a polarization.
If you're a Republican running for office, and you're perceived as pro-immigrant, you're lost, although younger Republicans have shown more openness and openness to immigrants.
"The new generations after the Baby Boomers? ?people born between 1957 and 1965? have become more pro-immigrant, including Republicans. To me, that's good news for the future."
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