The return of divided government in Washington has put immigration on the table – and the need to find common ground. The time is also ripe because of a rapid influx of migrants at the southern border.
A basis for unity is, in fact, already evident, and not just in the United States. From Chile to Texas, diverse efforts to address migrant crises and their causes reflect a common emphasis on the rule of law. What that shows, as Ali Noorani, former president of the Washington-based National Immigration Forum, has argued, is that “there is a clear border security narrative that balances compassion with security. One that acknowledges and addresses fears, but still advances values.”
American border agents intercepted a record 2.2 million migrants and arrested 143,000 people attempting to cross in the United States from Mexico during the 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. That mirrors a trend elsewhere in the world as more and more people uproot themselves or are forced to flee as a result of conflict, persecution, climate change, and economic hardship. In Italy, the number of migrant arrivals has tripled since 2020.
The migrant crisis in Honduras has helped motivate a series of legal reforms, a key point of origin for many seeking new opportunity in the U.S. Since taking office a year ago, President Xiomara Castro has sought to uproot systemic corruption and address violence against women – two commonplace causes of displacement.
In the United States, Republicans see a crisis of security in the current wave of illegal migration. On Saturday, newly installed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans would make border security their priority.
Many Democrats see a crisis of official cruelty on the border. More than a quarter of migrant encounters reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2022 involved people caught and expelled multiple times under a pandemic-era health law that allows the government to send migrants back before they can apply for asylum.
This law is at the center of the partisan divide. The Supreme Court is set to decide later this year if the rule, an emergency health provision, can be used to override the legal asylum process. Migrant experts expect a surge if it is overturned.
Criticized from the left and right, President Joe Biden announced a new asylum policy for migrants from four distressed countries – Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba – designed to streamline applications before they arrive at the border. Mr. Biden made his first presidential trip to the border on Sunday and then went to Mexico City today for two days of talks on trade and migration with his North American counterparts.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat turned independent, has vowed to reintroduce legislation she sponsored last fall with North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis that, combined new financial resources for borders security, would provide 2 million so-called Dreamers – people who were children when they arrived in the U.S. with parents entering illegally – a pathway to citizenship.
That bill, South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds told Bloomberg, showed that border security and compassion are not incompatible. “You can’t give up when you’re talking about archaic laws right now that need to be repaired,” he said.
The last time Congress seriously considered immigration reform, in 2013, the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain argued that “the status quo threatens our security, damages our economy, disregards the rule of law, and neglects our humanitarian responsibilities.”
Those same concerns may be resonating once again.