The bad news at the U.S. border with Mexico keeps getting worse as growing numbers of desperate migrants pile up at ports of entry seeking refuge from violence, persecution and poverty in their home countries.
To hear Gov. Greg Abbott and state and national Republican policymakers tell it, the expanding crisis is the result of President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies. An absurd assertion considering that arrests and expulsions of undocumented migrants by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol have tripled since 2020, with a record 2.7 million such encounters recorded during fiscal year 2022 alone.
The massive influx threatens to overwhelm our broken immigration system, inflicting duress on border cities such as El Paso that struggle mightily and compassionately to help the large numbers of immigrants arriving at their doorsteps every day.
A CRISIS YEARS IN THE MAKING
The urgency of the illegal immigration crisis is hardly new. It has festered for well over two decades under Republican and Democratic administrations, with both parties wielding the issue as a cudgel for political gain. For all the urgency, however, Congress has done little to solve anything. Sunday President Biden met with local leaders in El Paso to tout new proposals to address the crisis. The visit marked Biden’s first trip to the border since he was elected, and we hope it prompts a bipartisan commitment in Congress to overhaul our immigration laws.
Solving the nation’s immigration problems won’t be easy. The crush of migrants at the border poses massive financial and logistical challenges for U.S. border and immigration officials who under federal and international law must provide humane conditions for those they detain, and grant hearings to anyone seeking asylum from government violence or persecution in their home countries.
The challenges aren’t unique to the United States. Migration in the 21st century is increasing exponentially across the globe, fueled by wars, climate change, famine and other crises. Long a welcoming beacon for refugees, the United States cannot isolate itself from these trends, nor should it try to do so by building expensive, ineffective border walls or treating desperate humans as casualties it can discard. Federal policymakers must acknowledge the reality that migrants will continue to arrive at the U.S. border in large numbers and prepare to respond humanely and justly.
Last Thursday, President Biden announced the U.S. would begin accepting 30,000 migrants a month from four nations in turmoil — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Immigrants must arrive legally, have an eligible sponsor and pass a vetting process to come to the U.S. for up to two years. But migrants who attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally will be immediately expelled, Biden said. The policy changes immediately drew fire from both camps in the rancorous illegal immigration debate — conservative lawmakers who favor restricting immigration and those on the left who prefer opening up more legal paths to immigration.
Biden’s policy changes attempt to deal with countries fueling the sharpest rise in migration. But historic unlawful migration to the U.S. overall requires a long overdue and urgent response from lawmakers. It requires immediate additional funding for staffing and resources to process asylum claims and to provide humanitarian care for those arriving at ports of entry. Congressional lawmakers should also consider extending from one year to two years the amount of time that border crossers can legally file for asylum, which would give immigration officials space to process a staggering backlog of nearly 1.6 million claims.
In the longer term, federal lawmakers must set aside partisan grievances to pass the comprehensive immigration reform our nation desperately needs. Reforms should provide for additional work visas, expanded citizenship opportunities for law-abiding immigrants and refugees, and the granting of permanent citizenship to those who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents. Most Texans understand that the vast majority of immigrants are hard-working people who contribute to the state’s economy, comprising 21% of the Texas workforce. All members of the Texas congressional delegation should commit to working for reforms that make our state a better place for new migrants and the immigrants who already live here.
SOLUTIONS DEMAND GOOD-FAITH NEGOTIATIONS
We hope that two of the most powerful Republican members of the Texas congressional delegation — Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, who is in line to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee — will use their clout to convince GOP illegal immigration hardliners to work with Democrats to pass reforms. Democrats, too, must work in cooperative fashion. Previous attempts to find agreement have fallen apart when both parties made unreasonable demands.
“I refuse to believe hope is lost,” McCaul said in a written statement to the editorial board last week. McCaul said he is willing to work with Democrats and offer “fresh solutions that America can rally behind.”
Such a nod to bipartisanship stands in welcome contrast to Abbott’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and political stunts that use immigrants as pawns in his cruel theater. Abbott has called the immigrant influx “an invasion.” Recently he touted that he’d ordered more razor wire installed along the border and bussed another 100 migrants to Washington, where they were left in the cold outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence. In a tweet, Abbott bragged that he has bused 16,500 migrants out-of-state. He did not mention the cost to Texas taxpayers — at least $13 million. At a time when America needs smart leadership on immigration, Abbott’s political stunts solve nothing, compound human suffering and inflame our nation’s dangerous culture wars.
The people we elect to lead can’t squander yet another opportunity. They must work together to create a more fair, humane, smart and efficient system that benefits all.
Austin American-Statesman
