Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. A surge of immigrants illegally passing through openings cut by smugglers int the border wall has overwhelmed U.S. (Photo by John Moore | Getty Images)
The issue regarding the Mexican border is so full of disinformation that the real issue is hard to discern.
Right-wing politicians say, without evidence, that the border is “wide-open,” that these illegal immigrants are voting, and that criminals are overwhelming us. In fact, it is not wide-open, illegal immigrants cannot and do not vote, and immigrants are generally more law abiding than our own citizens. For Trump to demonize all immigrants is simply not true and done to gain politically from those who don’t want people of color and other people to share the greatness of America with them.
Let’s look at the facts. According to the hard-working Border Patrol, 78% of those crossing the border are apprehended. (See Lori Robinson writing for FactCheck.org.) While 22% is still too many, it is not the problem. The problem is what happens once they are apprehended or arrive legally at the border and seek entrance.
Government statistics show that between February 2021 and October 2023 the border patrol had 6 ½ million encounters. Fifty-seven percent of those were denied entrance. The rest, some 2.8 million, requested asylum. If they claim the “right to asylum,” the law requires that they must be given a hearing where they could prove they have a genuine fear of prosecution in the country they are leaving.
The number of persons claiming asylum is about 78,000 a month or 2,600 a day. With current facilities and manpower, there is no way a hearing can be held for 2,600 immigrants in one day. So, after a criminal check shows the immigrant does not have a criminal record and is not a terrorist, the immigrant is issued a notice to appear at some future date for a hearing and released. They are released inside the borders of the United States. That is why some call it “catch-and-release.”
There currently is a 3 million backlog of immigrants waiting for a hearing. The average wait is 5 years. Only about 15% eventually are granted asylum, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The obvious answer is to create a screening system to weed out the persons who have no hope of proving a genuine fear of prosecution. This could be done in a matter of a few days if they had necessary facilities and hearing officers.
That is exactly what the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act considered by Congress in early 2024 would have done. It was introduced by a Republican, Sen. James Lankford, and had large bipartisan support including President Joe Biden. Not only did it provide for a screening system but also included money to expand the facilities, to hire more border patrol agents and to provide for more asylum officers and immigration judges. It also give would the Border Patrol legal authority to declare a crisis any time more than 8,500 immigrants showed up in any one day (or 5,000 average during the course of seven days) allowing the Border Patrol the right to close the doors until the next day. That should solve the legality problem. It was a huge step forward.
Unfortunately, however, former President DOnald Trump asked Republicans in both the House and the Senate to oppose the bill. Trump wanted to save the issue for political purposes; it was too good a political issue to solve before the election. That ended any further progress of that bill. President Biden did implement some of the ideas by rule change which had an enormous reduction in the number of people arriving at the border.
In addition to splitting children from their parents and putting some kids in cages as Trump did when he was president, Trump now wants to put all immigrants on a plane back to where they came from. To do this without a hearing for those seeking asylum would result in incarceration and death for many immigrants. Not only is it cruel and illegal, but it is contradictory to what America has stood for since 1776 when to the United States welcomed immigrants who wished to make a new life for themselves in America. The statue of liberty is an icon for that concept. Most of us can indeed point to an ancestor who came to America for that very reason.
Most Americans really would welcome new persons who are genuinely seeking a better life and willing to work and conform to what makes America great. This is exactly what virtually all immigrants want to do. If Trump is defeated, the bipartisan bill that he killed will have a really good chance of passing which will be a big step in solving the border problem.