Since taking office nearly two and a half months ago, US President Joe Biden has sought to establish himself as a strong antithesis to his predecessor in nearly all aspects. On immigration specifically, unlike Trump, Biden has rooted his approach to policymaking in compassion, humanity, cooperation, and mutual interest, and moved swiftly to break away from the harmful legacy inherited by his administration, by reversing a slew of Trump-era policies.
However, Biden’s promise to undertake a more humane and empathetic approach to the issue is being increasingly tested amid a sharp rise in the number of people seeking to enter the country illegally through its southern border. According to Pew Research Centre, more than 100,000 migrants were apprehended at the US-Mexico border in February, marking a 30% jump from January, and the highest level for the month in five years. Border shelters are already overwhelmed, and the numbers are continuing to rise.
This is a crisis, even if the White House would prefer to not use that word. And while much of the blame definitely rests with the Trump administration— which weakened border authorities and instead relied on harsh rhetoric to deter migrants—Biden’s enthusiasm to roll back Trump’s policies and introduce comprehensive immigration reform was drastically premature as well. This isn’t to say that dismantling cruelty-as-deterrence was incorrect—it was absolutely the right thing to do. But doing so in the absence of a well-thought-out plan to deal with the predictable migration increase that was to come has no doubt contributed towards creating chaos at the border.
However, the administration has accepted no responsibility for the mess. “The border is not open,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stressed in an interview with Univision last month. “What we have discontinued, is the cruelty of the previous administration.” Given the absolute zero-tolerance policies of the former US government, it isn’t surprising that this kinder and cruelty-free-focused messaging from Biden’s team has translated into large swathes of people from Central America taking their chances and turning up at the US border. Brutal living conditions in their countries (stemming from crippling poverty, gang and cartel violence, and corruption) exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and two massive hurricanes last year have forced tens of thousands to leave their homes in search of a safer and better life. In the face of these hardships, Biden has portrayed himself as their best hope of salvation.
The president campaigned on easing immigration controls, and since taking office has partially rolled back Trump’s ‘Wait in Mexico’ policy for asylum applicants, along with shutting down numerous other programs that enabled the swift denial of migrants’ claims for protection. Though Biden has kept Title 42 active due to the ongoing pandemic—which allows the US to reject all asylum-seekers at the border—and consistently asked migrants to not come to the border, he has allowed unaccompanied minors to remain in the US on humanitarian grounds—an exception that has not only prompted vulnerable parents to send their young ones by themselves up north but also incentivised some adults to make the trip with them, thinking it may be worth the risk. In February, 18,945 family members and 9,297 unaccompanied children were encountered by border officials in Texas, marking an increase of 168% and 63% respectively from the previous month. While this rise in these numbers cannot be solely attributed to Biden, the point is that border detention centres are now once again overcrowded with young children, and there isn’t enough capacity to swiftly process their claims. This means they’re being detained by the Border Patrol in these unsuitable facilities for much longer than permissible under law.
Unsurprisingly, this has given the president’s opponents ample ammunition to severely chastise his mismanagement of the border. GOP leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Gov. Greg Abbott have decried the president’s “open border policies,” and have blamed him for “inviting illegal immigration”, as well as fuelling a humanitarian crisis in Texas. Former President Donald Trump also denounced his successor’s actions last month, telling Fox News, “We did a lot of things, and now all of that is eroded… today they’re coming in… from all foreign countries… It’s a disgrace.”
However, the Biden administration has pushed back against this criticism, arguing that it is doing the best it can to fix the broken system that it inherited from the previous leadership. It has already deployed officials from Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to help begin the vetting process for sponsors for children more quickly. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been called in for the next three months to help receive, shelter, and transfer unaccompanied migrant children. At the same time, Biden has also asked for nearly $4 billion in development aid over four years to tackle root causes of migration in Central American nations and increase their capacity to host migrants as well as process their claims when needed. “I think we are executing on our plans. And quite frankly, when we are finished doing so, the American public will look back on this and say we secured our border and we upheld our values and our principles as a nation,” Mayorkas told NBC News.
As noble as this may sound, unfortunately, the current administration is going to have to do a lot more to convince people that it can get the situation under control. Because currently, it seems completely unprepared to deal with the influx of migrants, which is not just exposing the individuals to a high level of risk but also putting Biden in a precarious position politically.
The way he handles this crisis is going to be a crucial test for the president because it will dictate the future of his ambitious immigration bill, which seeks to revamp the current system to reflect the American values, and also provide a pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants. Lawmakers on the other side of the aisle have already voiced their fierce opposition to the proposal, labelling it a “radical immigration agenda of amnesty and open borders,” which is only exacerbated by the fact that Biden’s plan does not call for a major increase in border security measures. Against this backdrop, getting the current situation right will be imperative.
Though addressing the root causes of migration is an important step, it is a long-term project, one that will take years to yield results. In the meantime, more urgently, Biden needs to establish a coherent and comprehensive plan to do all that he can to speed up admissions and denials of migrant applications by allocating appropriate resources and empowering border officials to conduct their duties efficiently. Just telling people to not come to the border is clearly not enough, so it is time to start doing things differently.