There may be other, better ways to describe the U.S. immigra- tion picture, but there would be no argument in calling it a challenge. Cities along the 1,900-mile-long border—the longest in the world—are at or near the breaking point with new arrivals showing up each day.
Today’s arrivals are no longer predominately men, women and families from Mexico looking for a better life. They now come from Venezuela, Cuba as well as other Central and South American countries. There are also immigrants who’ve made their way from eastern Europe and Asia. Together, this amorphous population has not only presented one of the greatest challenges ever faced at the border but also the biggest influx of immigrants hoping to cross over at a single moment in time.
While there is a trickle getting the golden ticket—checking all immigration boxes correctly—to get in, the vast majority remain at various checkpoints along the border. Refugee camps can be found on either side of the California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas borders.
While things are certainly less than ideal, some cities are doing better than others. In a National Public Radio interview, El Paso, Texas, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar said her town is managing or, at least, managing better than it has been.
“We are doing well right now,” Escobar told NPR Host Michelle Martin. “The numbers of migrants turning them- selves in to border patrol, those numbers are way down.” By some estimates, there has been as much as a 70% drop in people crossing the border.
But while that might sound like an improvement, the pain along the border has now fanned out across the country, including in Denver. More than 10,000 migrants have come to Denver over the last several months and the weight of the challenge of housing, feeding and caring for them has been, as Mayor Michael Hancock has landed the city “at a breaking point.” Hancock is pleading with Washington for assistance to help address the needs of the new arrivals.
While Denver’s approach has been humane, some state chief executives have used migrants as pawns to underscore the fragility of the border and to score political points. Most recently, it’s alleged that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis chartered a plane for 16 migrants and flew them to Sacramento. He also made headlines last September with a similar stunt, flying 50 Venezuelan immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, and deplaning them in the dark of night. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has done the same and put hundreds of migrants on buses for northern cities.
Other cities, like Chicago, have also been drop-off points for these families as well as muscular demonstrations of resolve by various state chief executives. Governors playing refugee politics are the governors of South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia. Governors of South Dakota and Virginia are either running for president or flirting with the idea.
In her NPR interview, Congresswoman Escobar said that she is working with officials as well as various aid organizations to help new arrivals get to where relatives of some of these individuals may be able to get them settled. “We help facilitate movement to other communities. We find out where they want to go, where their sponsors live, and we help them get to those final destinations.”
Still, said El Paso television reporter Heriberto Perez Lara, the situation for many has reached a boiling point. “I’ve seen confrontations between migrants and local authorities due to different ‘raids’ conducted by Mexican and Juarez authorities looking for migrants with no permit to stay in Mexico.” Perhaps the most serious demonstration of anger took place in March when a fire broke out at a government-run migrant camp In Cuidad Juarez, a Mexican city bordering El Paso. At least 38 people died.
Because summer and its accompanying heat have arrived, the flow of migrants may slow. Making the trek from Central and South America or Mexico can be dangerous not only from the heat but from criminals who prey on these
individuals. Also, negotiating Mexico’s Sonoran Desert where daytime temperatures routinely exceed 115 degrees can also be fatal. NPR’s Latinousa.org reported at least 225 deaths of migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert in 2022 and that in the last 20 years, the remains of more than 4,000 men, women and children have been discovered.
Many migrants, including those who’ve come to Denver, say the danger they face getting to the United States is worth the risk because it’s even more dangerous at home where they face drug and gang violence as well as official government corruption.
While the immigration challenge has so far not been met with a solution, the Biden Administration has authored new legislation designed to slow border crossings. The legislation replaces Title 42, a decades-old federal law originally designed to prevent the spread of communicable disease. The Trump administration jump started it using COVID-19 as its reason for allowing immigration authorities to prevent entry to asylum seekers.
With Title 42 lifted, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “DHS will process individuals encountered at the border pursuant to Title 8, which is the standard procedure we use to place individuals in removal proceedings.”
The new policy may help lessen the burden on border cities and other places that have become way stations for migrants making their way to sponsors in other cities. But the political season has begun. If past is prologue, solving the immigration crisis will play out in promises by candidates for the next 18 months. Real solutions, very likely, will remain elusive.
