Tag: El Paso

Relearning American Humanity

By Michelle Naranjo

In a small community on the steps of Pennsylvania coal country, there is a rumor being spread via social media that an empty decommissioned hospital slated for destruction due to the presence of asbestos and black mold is being kitted out with new beds and will soon become housing for immigrants making their way into the U.S. 

The initial report of this came from someone who claims a cousin delivering the beds to said hospital enquired about the activity, and a worker allegedly told him of the plan. The comments on posts about this range from residents ranting about Biden "opening the border," to those who believe that the migrants will bring the "China virus" with them, to a few who find the less-than-kind reactions racist and cruel. 

To be clear, migrants reaching the border tested for Covid-19 have a less than 6% positive rate. Legal residents in the border states, save California, are not faring as well. Texas is at 9%, New Mexico is at 8%, and Arizona is at 11%. 

Sadly, rumors of this kind are in every state of the U.S. and are just a sign of the poor communication around the growing migration from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Meanwhile, Biden and senior staff members are gunfire-at-the-feet dancing to avoid referring to the surge of migrants at the border as a crisis, and Republican critics are taking the opportunity to use the rising numbers to slam the nascent administration as a failure. The administration isn't doing itself any favors by rallying around the narrative that the growing crisis is the previous administration's fault. 

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, following a visit to the El Paso, Texas U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing center as part of a bipartisan congressional tour, has called on the Biden administration to be more transparent with Americans about what is happening at the border. 

While there is much to be gained by being honest with the media and citizens, it would also be an opportune time for Biden et. al. to reiterate America's humanitarian tradition and take a giant step towards reviving it.

Biden has only been in office long enough for one month of border statistics to come to light, but setting the tone now is imperative. Allowing a humanitarian crisis to dissolve into disinformation and rumors amid the ongoing turmoil of over 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, a year of massive unemployment, and a timbre that is no longer keeping the racist undertones of the U.S. quiet. 

Rescinding the policy of returning migrant children traveling alone encountered to the other side of the border was the right thing for Biden to do. So is sending assistance to the countries losing their citizens to migration because of strained economies, weather-related disasters, political corruption, and drug and gang-related violence. Biden needs to give the press and American citizens an ongoing and clear explanation of why it is in our best interest to protect migrants at risk since so many of us seem to have gone dark on what it means to have the U.S. act a leader in human rights. 

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Enduring Immigration Issue: Can it be Fixed?

By Todd Lassa

Four-and-a-half years ago, candidate Donald J. Trump promised that if he were elected president, he would “build the wall” on the Southern border, and “make Mexico pay for it.” President Trump ended his single term in office with about 365 miles of new fence that replaced existing dilapidated and outdated fencing, about 40 miles of new primary wall, plus 33 miles of secondary wall where there was none before, factcheck.org reports, quoting the Customs & Border Protection service. This means 73 miles new build. The price tag is an estimated $15-billion. Mexico paid for none of it.

Now President Biden is actually negotiating a own border deal with Mexico. The U.S. is offering excess supply of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for Mexico “moving to help the U.S. contain a migration surge along its southern border,” The Washington Post says, citing “senior officials” from both countries. (The U.S. also will extend the vaccine deal to Canada, though obviously without any quid pro quo on help with border security.)

The deal is being negotiated as the Biden administration tries to stem the flow of children and teenagers trying to cross the U.S. border from Mexico and other points south. Biden signed numerous executive orders his first few days in office to reverse President Trump’s strict border control measures.

Republicans are quick to connect this latest crisis to Biden’s laissez-faire immigration policy and reversal of Trump executive orders. Immigrant children are arriving at the southern border without their parents. Under the Trump administration, more than 600 children and teenagers were separated from their families as their parents were thrown out of the U.S. in 2018, explicitly to deter illegal immigration.

On Monday, March 15, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, led a bi-partisan delegation to the border at El Paso, Texas, to call attention to the latest flood of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border, a scene that Democrats criticized as a “photo op.”

The numbers of immigrants amassing at the border has, indeed, reached its highest monthly level, NPR reports, since 2019. Immigrants are flowing north primarily from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, NPR reporter Carrie Kahn said, fleeing “high levels” of violence, gangs and poverty, with promises made by human smugglers, while relatives already in the U.S. advise on whether they can find jobs here. The Biden administration seeks $4 billion in aid for these countries to spend on police training and judicial reform.

Proponents of a comprehensive immigration and asylum plan lament legislation proposed during George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s administrations, neither of which had a chance to make it through the Senate. Obama’s proposal was essentially an updated variation of the Bush plan. 

Now, following an administration that sought to heavily restrict immigration via executive orders and to appease American workers fearful for their jobs, instead of the traditional Republican constituency of farms and businesses seeking low-cost labor, the Biden administration is working on a new asylum process.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-CA, have introduced bills that seek …

•An eight-year path for undocumented immigrants to become citizens.

•Increases in the number of visas issued to immigrants per-country.

•Changing the term “alien” to “non-citizen.”

The House of Representatives began to take up this proposed legislation March 18. A bill offering legal status to “Dreamers” and migrants admitted for humanitarian reasons, Politico reports, passed by 228-197 vote. A bill offering similar protection to about 1 million farm workers -- estimated to be about half the nation’s agricultural workers – who have entered the U.S. illegally passed 247-174. The Senate will be a steeper climb. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-SC, introduced a bi-partisan immigration bill in early February, but has more recently told Politico he won’t support “legalizing one person until you’re in control of the border.”

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