Immigration in the News 3/29/2021
Dueling border visits, HSAC gutted, support for "path to citizenship" plummets
Commentary
Very nice to be back this week with a clear head and lots to catch up on. The border crisis continues to deepen, with the predictable political spin from both parties. Given the ongoing and cyclical exploitation of this mess by politicians, it is probably an opportune time to express our position on the solution to the border “problem”:
Treat it like we treat a refugee crisis elsewhere.
This is not a new problem, folks. We have strategies to deal with this.
1) Massive mobilization of federal refugee and disaster relief resources at the border. Set up camps, triage victims, call in the National and State Guard. Set up a resettlement apparatus that provides housing, sponsors, and medical treatment for all arrivals. This is the short-term plan to address the crisis. We are not doing these people any favors dumping them into the hinterlands with a bus ticket and a prayer.
2) Address the source of the problem. Work with UNHCR to create a functioning refugee/asylum system in the sending countries. Create refugee processing centers in Central America. Get people in line, process them properly, and line them up for flights into areas and communities that are equipped to absorb them. We did this with Vietnamese refugees in the 80s and 90s, it’s not a new thing.
3) Protect the border and disempower the traffickers. Once the above systems are in place, work with Mexican law enforcement to disincentivize traffickers and smugglers. Treat the break-up of these networks as an international law enforcement priority, empower victims to fight this practice, and show that the U.S. does not tolerate the exploitation of vulnerable migrants.
Yes, we are going to have to throw some money at this. But it’s worth it. Right now we are not sending the right message to people who are looking to migrate to the U.S. We are using bureaucratic and administrative methods to inflict cruelty as a deterrent, which is abhorrent and inefficient. We need to show that we are a nation of laws, with a sense of compassion mixed with appropriate realism. We owe it to ourselves and all future Americans to do this the right way.
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Big Topics this Week:
Biden and the border
Republican’s big border adventure
Undocumented Immigrants
Department of Homeland Security/Department of State
Refugee and Asylum Policy
Biden and the border
Answering reporters, Biden shows sympathy for migrants, imprecision on some facts
While Biden is correct that the number of border crossings have typically increased during those months, the increase over the past eight weeks appears to be especially sharp, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier this month that the United States is “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”
This month the number of unaccompanied teens and children taken into custody is on pace to exceed 17,000, a record, and overall arrests and detentions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are projected to surpass 150,000 for March, preliminary figures show.
Immigrants are crossing the U.S. Mexico border in large numbers
Vela never finds out what happens to the migrants he meets after delivering them to busy Border Patrol agents. Do the children ever find their families? Do mothers get the chance to explain why they came? How many times must the hopes of a father be frustrated for him to give up? There are too many stories and faces to keep track of so he keeps it simple.
In a pocket pad, he notes just the basics: age, country of origin and sex. That is what he logs in his reports, year after year.
Mr. Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols sought to reduce the appeal by requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while the immigration courts adjudicated their cases, but Mr. Biden is phasing out that policy. His Administration is using a Covid emergency provision to deport adults claiming asylum. But it has exempted children who set foot in the U.S., so parents send their children to enter and then stay with relatives. Mr. Mayorkas says more than 80% of unaccompanied children have a family member in the U.S.
Family groups crossing border in soaring numbers point to next phase of crisis
Starting in early April, ICE will hold more than 1,200 family members in hotel rooms under a new nearly $87 million contract with a nonprofit organization called Endeavors. ICE plans to release the families from the hotels within 72 hours, after providing them health screenings, a coronavirus test and access to clothing, meals, snacks and unlimited phone calls. ICE also will coordinate with nonprofit groups to find them shelter, food and transportation once they are released.
Biden continues to send confusing messages on his policy. The interviews with recent migrants specifically citing “Biden” as the impetus for their journey are hard to dispute. Biden’s administration has shown with their COVID response that they have the capability and expertise to marshal federal resources and get things done. Hopefully they can turn their attention to migration and immigration and show the same success in the coming months.
Political delegations visit the border
Democrats, Republicans hold dueling border trips. Their takeaways couldn't be more different.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats were about 245 miles away from each other in Texas Friday for firsthand observation of the children and families coming into the United States from Mexico — and worlds apart on how to handle the increase in migrants crossing the border.
The visits presented competing narratives about the situation at the border, where the homeland security secretary recently said the U.S. is on pace to reach the highest level of border crossings in 20 years.
Republicans and Democrats send dueling delegations to US border
A group of Republican senators led by Ted Cruz of Texas presented their trip as an exposé of dire circumstances, with Cruz sharing video of himself on Thursday night standing in darkness next to the Rio Grande river and falsely warning about a “flood” of human smuggling.
A group of Democratic members of the House of Representatives led by Joaquín Castro of Texas described a different vulnerability at the border, that of unaccompanied children held by the US government.
Biden official asked GOP senators visiting border to delete photos from facilities
Braun told the Examiner as the group stopped with border agents at the edge of the Rio Grande, where migrants often try to illegally cross. There he said a group of "coyotes," who guide migrants across the border for money, jeered at the group in Spanish.
"All of a sudden to hear from the other side of the river taunting from the smugglers and coyotes, most of it in Spanish, telling the border guards that whatever you do, we're coming," said Braun. "That kind of hit home in such an anecdotal way because it is one story that kind of is a metaphor for what's happening all up and down the border."
The less said about this nakedly political exercise the better. Cruz in particular seems to have absolutely no shame when it comes to exploiting this kind of crisis.
Undocumented Immigrants
First buses with migrant girls arrive at San Diego Convention Center
As of Saturday, about 12,270 children were in the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody after being transferred from Customs and Border Protection, most from Border Patrol. The number of children apprehended by Border Patrol has been increasing steadily since a dip in April 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.
Support for Citizenship Path for Undocumented Immigrants Plummets in 2 Months of Biden's Presidency
Support for a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants among Democrats decreased 15 percent from January (72 percent to 57 percent). Twenty-six percent of Republicans said they support the citizenship path, down 13 percent from January's 39 percent.
The most recent poll also found that 40 percent of Americans believe that the immigration system under Biden has gotten worse. According to the poll, 24 percent said it has stayed the same and 23 percent said it has gotten better.
Undocumented migrants have come to the U.S. for centuries. Why do we treat them differently today?
Polls don’t look good. Public relations is important when it comes to immigration reform, and it looks like Biden is losing the battle currently. This will affect what kind of legislation we ultimately see. As we have said in prior editions, we need someone in a leadership position to make a case for the reforms they are pushing. Mayorkas’ Sunday show appearances have not done the job so far, nor did Biden’s presser this week.
DHS/DOS
Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas on DACA
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas released the following statement announcing that DHS will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to preserve and fortify DACA:
“We are taking action to preserve and fortify DACA. This is in keeping with the President’s memorandum. It is an important step, but only the passage of legislation can give full protection and a path to citizenship to the Dreamers who know the U.S. as their home.”
So “stay tuned”, I guess?
President Biden Announces his Intent to Nominate Key Members for the Department of State
Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Daniel J. Kritenbrink to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Brian A. Nichols to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Brett M. Holmgren to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas guts Homeland Security Advisory Council
Former HSAC members told CBS News that the advisory council been temporarily "dormant" since the election and waiting on further instructions from the secretary. Members were not given a "heads up" regarding the disbandment of the council, and it took several of them off-guard. The last project members were working on was an evaluation of Chinese influence on American universities.
DHS looking at tracking travel of domestic extremists
The department could begin analyzing the travel patterns of suspected domestic extremists, monitor flights they book on short notice and search their luggage for weapons, a senior law enforcement official told POLITICO. There have also been discussions about putting suspected domestic violent extremists — a category that includes white supremacists — on the FBI’s No Fly List, the official said. When suspected extremists travel internationally, officials may be more likely to question them before they pass through customs and to search their phones and laptops.
No way this will be abused…..
Refugee/Asylum Policy
Deporting Asian refugees, activists say, is anti-Asian violence – and removals are up
Activists call it double punishment, that refugees convicted of crimes serve their sentences — then still get deported. Many never understood that, even as legal permanent residents, they needed citizenship as an ultimate bar against deportation. Or they didn’t have the money or language skills to press through the process.
Awards honour refugee-led response to COVID-19 pandemic
“Through this award, we want to give a signal that – more than any other type of organization – refugee-led organizations have proven to be the most important and effective at finding innovative and local solutions to the challenges faced in their own communities during these difficult times,” Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said during the virtual ceremony.
U.S. Refugee Program 'On Life Support,' Facing Big Challenges
"One hundred and twenty-five thousand refugees being resettled this [next] year is unrealistic," says Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the nine organizations tasked by the government to serve the needs of people fleeing war or persecution.
"Our refugee resettlement has been on life support for the past few years," Vignarajah says. Seventeen of her agency's 48 resettlement sites have closed due to budgetary cutbacks in the U.S. government's refugee program. Any rapid expansion of refugee admissions will therefore depend on a dramatic turnaround.
Democrats demand answers on why Biden hasn't officially allowed more refugees into the US
In a new letter to Biden on Wednesday signed by more than 200 groups that work with refugees in the US, advocates argue that the President has hampered the work they do by not signing the paperwork needed to allow refugees who were already prepared to come to the United States.
"We urge you to immediately sign a new, revised FY21 refugee admissions goal of 62,500 and restore regional allocations based on vulnerability and need. Each day that passes without this signed executive action is another day that hundreds of particularly vulnerable refugees are forced to wait to be resettled," the groups, which include Refugee Council USA, Amnesty International, Catholic Charities among others, wrote to Biden.
The prognosis for the refugee program continues to be dire. We need a “Marshall Plan” for this program which completely revamps and revitalizes it. Incremental change and USAJOBS.com are not going to do the trick.