tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88977526511433690772024-03-13T20:28:52.595-04:00The Politics of ImmigrationThe Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.comBlogger1674125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-73387856025948545952023-11-01T09:58:00.002-04:002023-11-01T10:01:44.735-04:00<p> <span face="ScalaSansOT, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #491178; font-size: 30px; letter-spacing: 0.23px;">Will Venezuelan Migrants “Destroy New York”?</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><b>By David L. WIlson<br /></b><b>NYU Press Blog<br /></b><b>October 27, 2023</b></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">There’s been a lot of talk in the past few years about a so-called “border crisis”—that is, a recent increase in migrants entering the United States to apply for asylum. Rightwing politicians and media have been responsible for the most strident claims, but more and more centrists seem to be getting on the crisis bandwagon. In September, New York’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, warned a town hall that the past year’s increase in asylum seekers, many of them Venezuelan, could <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/nyregion/adams-migrants-destroy-nyc.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #491178; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“destroy”</a> his city.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">But crisis mongers like the mayor have been avoiding two important questions: Is the number of unauthorized migrants entering the country significantly greater now than it was in the past, and what would be a sensible response to the increase, if it existed?[...]</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><b style="letter-spacing: 0.23px;">Read the full blog post: </b><a href="https://www.fromthesquare.org/will-venezuelan-migrants-destroy-new-york/" style="letter-spacing: 0.23px;">https://www.fromthesquare.org/will-venezuelan-migrants-destroy-new-york/</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><br /></u></span><a href="https://www.fromthesquare.org/will-venezuelan-migrants-destroy-new-york/" style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0.23px;"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5CmIHUuD8UrdkGshuv6D09SYzvBpONCHrWSWFlSMNsOdX9jG-ifaTfFfg0v1bgabWo-160xHmhUgPQhBYYDn5pWaCMhdQiydQddQ7sjCpt1p6xs3Vs4KU52QZU-Z6CXTr4LfCfvtMKThyphenhyphen1lv1GQOwuggZvHpqS5IbNNcm0eLEV1H4z3jIdO9qhBczrE/s1252/Venezuela-Blog.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="1252" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5CmIHUuD8UrdkGshuv6D09SYzvBpONCHrWSWFlSMNsOdX9jG-ifaTfFfg0v1bgabWo-160xHmhUgPQhBYYDn5pWaCMhdQiydQddQ7sjCpt1p6xs3Vs4KU52QZU-Z6CXTr4LfCfvtMKThyphenhyphen1lv1GQOwuggZvHpqS5IbNNcm0eLEV1H4z3jIdO9qhBczrE/s320/Venezuela-Blog.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: ScalaSansOT, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.23px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-25802346183959646402022-01-10T15:58:00.003-05:002022-01-10T15:58:59.808-05:00Immigration Reform Is Still Possible — With a Strong Social Movement<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUxn_8ED98uav4YaoUo4AmYl5Znzi9fq-qtL3i2qkswoFtQuKtqvCrpTcbD5sSc_Tij4rPF6_MjkyuyB3Y6dwERCLqRm6M7GPvEXGqmLjJn54r0m3bc9S9q0Pq4LR60EYjFlTlSFsZtz9lHennl0T4hSliPqinYXW8GhALnzZMd7FP9qp8keFnzHbY=s1536" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUxn_8ED98uav4YaoUo4AmYl5Znzi9fq-qtL3i2qkswoFtQuKtqvCrpTcbD5sSc_Tij4rPF6_MjkyuyB3Y6dwERCLqRm6M7GPvEXGqmLjJn54r0m3bc9S9q0Pq4LR60EYjFlTlSFsZtz9lHennl0T4hSliPqinYXW8GhALnzZMd7FP9qp8keFnzHbY=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Rally at SCOTUS Photo: Tom Williams/ Cq-Roll/Getty Images</span></td></tr></tbody></table><i>2021 didn’t bring anything like the progress many
immigrants and their allies were hoping for. But sustained grassroots
organizing could turn the situation around in 2022.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>By
David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>January
10, 2022</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">A year ago, it seemed possible that the country might get
its first truly positive immigration reform since the 1986 “<b><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/todays-immigration-debate-rooted-reagan-amnesty-experts-say">Reagan
amnesty</a></b>.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The incoming Biden administration was <b><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/">proposing
legislation</a></b> that would allow most of the country’s 10 to 11 million
undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status. The outlines were
subsequently included in the <b><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/">Build Back Better</a> </b>bill,
but the Democrats had to pare the reform back in order to win approval from the
Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, under the arcane <b><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/14/1026519470/what-is-budget-reconciliation-3-5-trillion">Senate
reconciliation process</a></b>. The Democrats’ most recent proposal was just a <b><a href="https://thehill.com/latino/582254-historic-immigration-reform-included-in-house-passed-spending-bill">limited
parole</a></b> for some 6.5 million immigrants, and even that concession wasn’t
enough for MacDonough. She <b><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/16/senate-parliamentarian-rejects-latest-dem-proposal-on-immigration-525195">nixed
the plan</a> </b>on December 16.[…]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Read the
full article:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/immigration-reform-is-still-possible-with-a-strong-social-movement/">https://truthout.org/articles/immigration-reform-is-still-possible-with-a-strong-social-movement/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Rally at
SCOTUS Photo: Tom Williams/ Cq-Roll/Getty Images<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-83871234802695238592022-01-04T11:19:00.001-05:002022-01-04T11:22:20.504-05:00Are There “Foreigners” in the U.S. Working Class?<p><i>Judis, who has decades of experience on the U.S. left,
succeeded in setting forth a clear and concise formulation of a socialist
position in favor of immigration restrictions. In doing so, he inadvertently
demonstrated how completely detached that position is from reality.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>By
David L. Wilson, <i>MR Online</i><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>January
3, 2022</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">The libertarian magazine <i>Reason</i> ran an eye-catching
headline in its August-September issue: “How Mass Immigration Stopped American
Socialism.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://reason.com/2021/07/17/how-mass-immigration-stopped-american-socialism/"><b>article
itself</b></a> doesn’t do much more than reveal its authors’ ignorance about
socialism and about socialist labor organizing in the early twentieth century,
but it highlights a problem that has troubled U.S. socialists for more than a
century. Pro-immigrant positions are natural for leftists; they have no trouble
recognizing the <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2018-05-18/president-trump-s-animals-comment-points-dark-history-using-dehumanizing-language"><b>dehumanization</b></a>
and the appeals to <a href="https://www.amacad.org/publication/racialization-illegality"><b>racism</b></a>
and<b> </b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/26/trumps-xenophobia-is-an-american-tradition-it-doesnt-have-be/"><b>xenophobia</b></a>
that underlie rightwing rhetoric against “open borders” and “illegal aliens.”
But does socialist support for immigrants’ rights drive away U.S.-born workers?[…]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>Read
the full article:<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://mronline.org/2022/01/03/are-there-foreigners-in-the-u-s-working-class/">https://mronline.org/2022/01/03/are-there-foreigners-in-the-u-s-working-class/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihb-9XmImcY8Z4b4yf0VCShtY0OiC96tHj3rE8UcOQWpy_BmXO5YVkb0BafbqBmCvUlbh-LRr76_cslXQRGaz1t3Tq6xxWqoPBNSGd638HxTqYNEzIHkqXgLlrPzvMd0DQnvT3XnfkptxRYIQFSLr40u54APzQSFhhxtzSXvPEtYM46wUn96Gq1gz8=s600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihb-9XmImcY8Z4b4yf0VCShtY0OiC96tHj3rE8UcOQWpy_BmXO5YVkb0BafbqBmCvUlbh-LRr76_cslXQRGaz1t3Tq6xxWqoPBNSGd638HxTqYNEzIHkqXgLlrPzvMd0DQnvT3XnfkptxRYIQFSLr40u54APzQSFhhxtzSXvPEtYM46wUn96Gq1gz8=w400-h265" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Immigrants and supporters march on May Day. Photo: David Bacon</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><o:p><br /></o:p></p>
<br />The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-58482606606847645162021-12-09T16:13:00.005-05:002022-01-04T11:23:08.367-05:00My Conversation With a Coup Plotter<p><i>I found myself wondering how someone as obviously
intelligent and well-educated as Eastman could present such flimsy arguments.
Was he just lying, or had rightwing ideology warped his mind to the point where
he could believe what he was writing?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>By
David L. Wilson, <i>CounterPunch<br /></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyd-DNheLUisBAWMiMk0l9NLLN_Ef542f4DpuQq9_I0i3Tm8H9JginZjb4xC5xjFggunE8zjzYojVzv_W7bMBglY98jv6NJJ8ygLOWdqzoFAZWjKCU9qpukNQhmLc9LqcYbdx6q6cU3_GNcXtn4KCNaCNZmd897_ve89t4co4a_JhzsPQHL0cmWoXM=s768" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="768" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyd-DNheLUisBAWMiMk0l9NLLN_Ef542f4DpuQq9_I0i3Tm8H9JginZjb4xC5xjFggunE8zjzYojVzv_W7bMBglY98jv6NJJ8ygLOWdqzoFAZWjKCU9qpukNQhmLc9LqcYbdx6q6cU3_GNcXtn4KCNaCNZmd897_ve89t4co4a_JhzsPQHL0cmWoXM=w200-h178" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John C. Eastman Photo: Public Domain</td></tr></tbody></table><b>December 9, 2021</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Claremont Institute legal scholar John Eastman is now best
known for his efforts to help Donald Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/21/politics/read-eastman-memo/index.html"><b>o</b><b>verturn the 2020 presidential
election</b></a>, but in August 2015 he was still a professor at the Chapman
University’s Fowler School of Law and someone whose legal opinions the New York
Times considered worthy of publication.</p><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The occasion back then was a proposal from candidate Donald
Trump to end birthright citizenship. The current requirement that children born
here be recognized as U.S. citizens was “the biggest magnet for illegal
immigration,” <b><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/where-gop-2016-candidates-stand-birthright-citizenship-n411946">he argued</a></b>.[…]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>Read
the full article:<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/09/my-conversation-with-a-coup-plotter/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/09/my-conversation-with-a-coup-plotter/</a><o:p></o:p></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-68672489760362705702021-12-02T09:53:00.000-05:002021-12-02T09:53:35.748-05:00Media Don’t Factcheck Right-Wing Migration Myths<p><i>[T]his imbalance is typical of much corporate media
immigration coverage. Right-wing media figures and Republican politicians get
little pushback when they promote evidence-free, often absurd claims about
incentives for unauthorized immigration.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>By David
L. Wilson, <i>Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting</i><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>December 1, 2021<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked a
bizarre question at President Joe Biden’s November 3 </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/11/03/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-authorization-of-the-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-ages-5-to-11/" style="text-align: left;"><b>press
briefing</b></a><span style="text-align: left;">. The president seemed to misunderstand the question, which
referred to potential settlements of a lawsuit stemming from the Trump
administration’s notorious 2017–18 </span><a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3442" style="text-align: left;"><b>family
separation policy</b></a><span style="text-align: left;">. Biden bungled his response, apparently calling
reports about the settlement “garbage.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not surprisingly, the media ran with the story of Biden’s
blunder. Doocy’s question, on the other hand, was mostly ignored or played
down.[…]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>Read
the full article:<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://fair.org/home/media-dont-factcheck-right-wing-migration-myths/">https://fair.org/home/media-dont-factcheck-right-wing-migration-myths/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZL4q1edc5dViT_k9v3-XyVAxQHI3iU7mUIBBs-SRphzaBv6BunIJ3MLCnJ0OrIJJk20u0rJCTg0K4pfqv_31Fj9F0ImpSehP0nke-86o5En58zvabc4dAtO6U6eFRPX4kDVkaWd9BWhk/s1000/LAT-Immigrants-Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="1000" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZL4q1edc5dViT_k9v3-XyVAxQHI3iU7mUIBBs-SRphzaBv6BunIJ3MLCnJ0OrIJJk20u0rJCTg0K4pfqv_31Fj9F0ImpSehP0nke-86o5En58zvabc4dAtO6U6eFRPX4kDVkaWd9BWhk/w400-h208/LAT-Immigrants-Photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Los Angeles Times</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </o:p></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-92042506295623869662021-10-30T16:15:00.002-04:002021-11-01T09:42:13.284-04:00The “border crisis” numbers don’t add up<p> ...<i>[T]he “border crisis” narrative ignores several
important differences between 2000 and 2021—the number of successful border
crossings, the legal situation of the migrants who arrive, and the impact of a
global pandemic.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>By David L. Wilson, <i>MR Online<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>October 29, 2021</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">In July, environmental activist Laiken Jordahl tweeted out a
<b><a href="https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/status/1421189108219617281">short
video</a></b> featuring what he called “the almighty border wall,” a section of
fence at the Coronado National Forest in Arizona. The fence there includes
several gates that need to be kept open at times of heavy rain. Without them,
explained Jordahl, a staffer at Tucson’s <b><a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/">Center for Biological Diversity,</a></b>
debris would accumulate behind the structure and floodwaters would eventually
knock the wall down.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The gates were wide open. The only barrier was a few strands
of barbed wire: anyone could easily have clipped the wire and walked through.
No Border Patrol agents were in sight; neither were any would-be migrants.[…]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>Read the
full article:</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://mronline.org/2021/10/29/the-border-crisis-numbers-dont-add-up/">https://mronline.org/2021/10/29/the-border-crisis-numbers-dont-add-up/</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilDKgFF3M7U5GkLx9a5bb5n0PDJGXaJb2LBhyvao8fZzv-2qU0-rbwpJAFB_rh-G8t7KFUmcyL0LvfCJF3YHcb45KhjreSpgPSYOoadWnCHY85Za9iXJkF0pkb4DkJd8RWe9TvLaN1GE/s1024/Bacon+Border+Pix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1024" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilDKgFF3M7U5GkLx9a5bb5n0PDJGXaJb2LBhyvao8fZzv-2qU0-rbwpJAFB_rh-G8t7KFUmcyL0LvfCJF3YHcb45KhjreSpgPSYOoadWnCHY85Za9iXJkF0pkb4DkJd8RWe9TvLaN1GE/w400-h269/Bacon+Border+Pix.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Border Wall. Photo: David Bacon</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-26510947790045717212021-10-25T21:18:00.001-04:002021-10-25T21:19:07.175-04:00What’s the Relation Between Border Apprehensions and Unauthorized Entries? Part 4<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Now we can return to our
original questions: does this year’s increase in border apprehensions mean that
more undocumented migrants are settling here? Is it comparable to the border
crossings in years like 2000?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>Encounters and Admissions</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">On October 22 Customs and Border
Enforcement (CBP) released fiscal 2021’s <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics"><b>final number</b></a> for migrants apprehended or expelled at the southwestern border:
1,734,686. This breaks down into 75,480 arriving at ports of entry and 1,659,206
crossing the border between ports of entry. The number is historically high, surpassing
the <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Monthly%20Apprehensions%20%28FY%202000%20-%20FY%202019%29_1.pdf"><b>1,643,679 apprehended</b></a> at that border in 2000. Still, there’s no reason to
think that 1,734,686 migrants have been added to the U.S. undocumented
population.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">In fact, 1,063,526 of the
migrants were immediately expelled under Title 42 of the U.S. health code, and
another <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/custody-and-transfer-statistics"><b>128,851 were sent back</b></a> through expedited removal, reinstatement of removal,
voluntary return, or the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">This leaves 542,309 border
crossers admitted to the country, but the actual number is probably lower:
47,671 of these migrants still didn’t have a final disposition when CBP
collected the data at the end of September, so some had probably been deported.
The migrants admitted were almost all members of family units or as minors
without their parents who were allowed to seek asylum: a <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters"><b>total</b></a> of
479,728 family unit members and 149,033 children without their parents were
apprehended at the border. Note that seeking asylum is specifically protected
by <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158"><b>U.S. law</b></a>,
so it’s inaccurate to refer to asylum seekers’ entry as “illegal.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Many thousands of the 542,309
migrants admitted to the country are undoubtedly now in immigration detention.
The government doesn’t seem to have made the number available at this time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>The “Gotaways” and
Overstays</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">There’s also a certain
number of migrants who entered by crossing the border without being
apprehended.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">In <b><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html">Part 3</a> </b>we estimated that
the current apprehension rate was something like 80 percent. Applying this rate
to the 1,659,206 migrants encountered at the border, we estimate that 414,802
migrants may have crossed the border without being apprehended, more than double
the estimated numbers in 2016. But CBP seems to have a lower estimate: three
anonymous CBP officials told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/got-aways-border/2021/04/01/14258a1e-9302-11eb-9af7-fd0822ae4398_story.html"><b><i>Washington Post</i></b></a> in April that about 1,000 were crossing each day
without being apprehended—which would come to 365,000 for the fiscal year.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Depending on how we count
these “gotaways,” the total number of migrants joining the undocumented
population through the southwestern border would be <i>at most</i> between 907,309
and 957,111.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">But not all undocumented
immigrants enter through the border. In <b><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html">Part 2</a></b> we cited estimates that as many
as 66 percent of the new arrivals in 2016 were overstays. But this year’s
number of overstays can’t be anything like the 306,000 to 320,000 we calculated
for 2016.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Just as the pandemic has
undoubtedly disrupted other migration patterns, it has dramatically changed the
number of possible overstays. The US government has restricted travel from the
areas that provided the most visitors in the past—China, the Schengen zone, the
UK, India, Brazil—while much land entry from Mexico and Canada is also
restricted. The result, according to <a href="https://www.aila.org/advo-media/aila-policy-briefs/policy-brief-reopening-america"><b>2021 policy brief</b></a> from the American Immigration Lawyers Association
(AILA), is an 80 percent drop in the number of visitors with non-immigrant
visas.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span> </span></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjop8FGWLaeGLHRgCVPwApNWkgWBEcr0ptANFKGsgfLRkn2z-Rr5EWgCCJ9Sm0iv9moymV7FysbpuMrVjsXuYglapygnh1djDPpV0eDRpcg7rYsDpz7w-35Vc5ILF_R1Efd_1VfJdp9aNs/s830/NIVgraph.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="830" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjop8FGWLaeGLHRgCVPwApNWkgWBEcr0ptANFKGsgfLRkn2z-Rr5EWgCCJ9Sm0iv9moymV7FysbpuMrVjsXuYglapygnh1djDPpV0eDRpcg7rYsDpz7w-35Vc5ILF_R1Efd_1VfJdp9aNs/w400-h224/NIVgraph.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span>Source: AILA 2021 </span></b><a href="https://www.aila.org/advo-media/aila-policy-briefs/policy-brief-reopening-america" style="text-align: left;"><b><span>Policy Brief</span></b></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Applying
the reduction in visas to the number of overstays from 2016, we get an estimate
of just 61,000 or 62,000 overstays for all of fiscal 2021. But this is probably
an underestimate, since more than 200,000 of the visas were presumably for H-2A
temporary farmworkers; these are largely Mexicans, who have a high rate of
overstays. To compensate for this, we round the overstays up to 120,000.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>The Final Numbers<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">If we add overstays to the
projected successful border crossers through September, we get between 1,127,309
and 1,177,111 migrants entering the undocumented population this fiscal year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">This is definitely higher
than the unauthorized entries in recent years 2016, but still in line with the entries
in each year from 1994 to 2006, and despite the media’s comparisons to 2000,
below the estimated 1,389,322 entries for that year. As Princeton sociologist
Douglas Massey, an expert on immigration patterns, <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/lets-call-the-border-crisis-what-it-is-another-big-lie-from-the-right/"><b>noted earlier this year</b></a>, the current increase could be a return to the
pattern that characterized most of the last five decades, or it may show the
effects of the COVID pandemic, which created economic hardships pushing more
Mexican workers to cross the border and more people coming from relatively
distant countries to seek asylum.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">And we don’t yet know how
the pandemic may have affected the number of migrants<i> leaving</i> the undocumented
population. CMS’s estimate for 2016 was 771,000. If that number left this year,
the total increase in the undocumented population would be less than 500,000.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>In other words, despite
ominous warnings about “illegal aliens” and a “border crisis,”</b> <b>this year’s the rate of unauthorized entry is
probably less than it was in the early 2000s and may just represent a temporary
effect of the global pandemic.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part 1:</i> <i><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html</a></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part 2: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html</a><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part 3:</i> <i><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html</a><o:p></o:p></i></p><br /><p></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-73876483486730267452021-10-24T20:48:00.004-04:002021-10-25T21:39:32.893-04:00What’s the Relation Between Border Apprehensions and Unauthorized Entries? Part 3<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Part 2 we saw how to break
down each year’s unauthorized arrivals into the overstays and the migrants that
entered successfully through borders, almost always the southwestern border. But
there are two groups of border crossers who join the unauthorized population:
the migrants who entered without being apprehended, and the migrants who were
apprehended but were allowed to remain—that is, were admitted temporarily to
pursue claims for a legal status. (These migrants are still subject to
deportation if they fail to win their cases.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>There are three
different ways of estimating the number of migrants who entered the U.S.
without being apprehended—the “gotaways,” in the Border Patrol’s actual official
terminology.</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The ACS-Based
Apprehension Rate<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
first method relies on estimates that demographers make for each year’s number
of new arrivals in the undocumented population; they base these on the Census
Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS; see Part 2). New arrivals consist of
migrants who overstayed their visas, migrants who were apprehended at the
border but were allowed to enter, and migrants who evaded apprehension.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><br />For the number of new arrivals in 2016, for example, we can use the </span><a href="https://cmsny.org/publications/essay-2017-undocumented-and-overstays/"><b><span>2019 CMS report</span></b></a><span> or Robert Warren’s </span><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/233150241700500403"><b><span>2018 report</span></b></a><span>
in combination with the unpublished CMS data we cited in Part 2. The 2019
report estimates 515,000 total arrivals to the undocumented population in 2016,
while the unpublished CMS data puts the number at 623,000. From these estimates
we can subtract the estimated overstays, 320,000 in the 2019 report and 306,000
in the 2018 report, to establish how many entered at a land border.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Next, we need to estimate
the number of migrants that agents apprehended but allowed to enter the
country. (As we noted in Part 1, these are mostly asylum seekers who are
admitted to the country pursuant to </span><a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-94/pdf/STATUTE-94-Pg102.pdf"><b><span>two</span></b></a><b><span> </span></b><a href="https://www.congress.gov/110/plaws/publ457/PLAW-110publ457.pdf"><b><span>laws</span></b></a><span>
that establish procedures to adjudicate their claims. Many come as family units
or unaccompanied minors, and this category started increasing significantly in
2014; for example, 77,674 family unit members and 59,692 unaccompanied minors
were apprehended at the southwestern border </span><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-border-unaccompanied-children/fy-2016"><span>in 2016</span></a><span>.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMF7igja609uHEXajDbUEiSE4QizKEIhyJbW6kMJs68AQNV_grmV0bUZdqt1tNy9duOI7gGdYneiZMESvqx8-EItDfMCEurL9WOy5I2n378LaopDG4rORW_OaN459O7m8xI64pA-Q-a0/s764/FMUA-UAC.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="764" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMF7igja609uHEXajDbUEiSE4QizKEIhyJbW6kMJs68AQNV_grmV0bUZdqt1tNy9duOI7gGdYneiZMESvqx8-EItDfMCEurL9WOy5I2n378LaopDG4rORW_OaN459O7m8xI64pA-Q-a0/w400-h206/FMUA-UAC.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Source: <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R46012.pdf">Congressional Research Service</a></span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The
Border Patrol reported </span><a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Enforcement_Actions_2016.pdf"><b><span>408,870 apprehensions</span></b></a><span> at the southwestern border in fiscal 2016, and 245,400
border crossers were removed that year, almost all from that same border. That
leaves 163,470 migrants, mostly asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors, who
were admitted to the country after being apprehended. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span>Once we subtract the overstays
and the admitted migrants from the total arrivals, we have a rough idea of how
many migrants entered without being apprehended, and we can use this number to estimate
the 2016 apprehension rate—that is, the percent of border crossers that DHS
succeeded in apprehending.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Using the 2019 CMS report’s
estimate of 515,000 total undocumented arrivals and subtract the 320,000
overstays and 163,470 admissions, we estimate that about 31,570 migrants evaded
apprehension at the southwestern border in 2016. By adding this 31,570 to the
408,870 total apprehensions, we arrive at some 440,440 unauthorized crossings at
that border. This gives us an apprehension rate of 93 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If instead we use 2016 arrival number from the unpublished CMS
estimates—623,000—and the overstay number from Warren’s 2018 report—306,000—then
317,000 migrants arrived by crossing the border without authorization. Subtracting
the 163,470 admissions, we get 153,530 migrants who evaded apprehension. Adding
this to total apprehension gives us an estimated 562,400 border crossers, with
nearly 73 percent of them being apprehended.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Model-Based vs.
Observational Apprehension Rates</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The US government has a
different way to estimate the number of unauthorized migrants who cross the
border without being apprehended. In fact, it has two. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The government’s two methods
are explained in an August 2020 <b><a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/BSMR/ndaa_border_security_metrics_report_fy_2019_0.pdf.pdf">DHS report</a></b>
on border metrics. One is a model-based apprehension rate that extrapolates
from a survey the <b><a href="https://www.colef.mx/">Colegio de la Frontera Norte</a></b> takes of migrants who have recently attempted to
cross the border. The other is an observational apprehension rate. This is
extrapolated from Border Patrol observations of people crossing successfully
and from evidence like footprints.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">DHS reports on the
model-based apprehension rate go back to fiscal 2000. This shows a dramatic
increase, from as low as 32.5 percent in 2003 to a high of 83.9 percent in 2016,
with a tendency to rise throughout the period. DHS didn’t start calculating the
observational rate until 2006; it too shows a tendency to rise, but not nearly
as much as the model-based rate. The lowest rate is 63.5 percent for 2006,
while the highest is 79.4 in 2011 both and 2016.</span></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmmsucgVe8NsrQtYfn_70TpzXJg4PaIoh5xpBW1yDuiX6LsYK8QbeoAz412Za823bZn4_yRQbIHiWtiywkdL4zoL8H5L7Ge0kx0C1IvaIWt6HupW54I3EydIn8X_vKXLIe0qer3wUCjY/s680/Border+Metrics.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="680" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmmsucgVe8NsrQtYfn_70TpzXJg4PaIoh5xpBW1yDuiX6LsYK8QbeoAz412Za823bZn4_yRQbIHiWtiywkdL4zoL8H5L7Ge0kx0C1IvaIWt6HupW54I3EydIn8X_vKXLIe0qer3wUCjY/w400-h226/Border+Metrics.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="text-align: left;">Source: American Immigration Council </b><a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/rising-border-encounters-in-2021" style="text-align: left;"><b>2021 Report</b></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The model-based rates seem much
too high for the early period. For example, the Border Patrol reported <b><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Monthly%20Apprehensions%20%28FY%202000%20-%20FY%202019%29_1.pdf">1,643,679 apprehensions</a></b> for 2000. The model-based apprehension rate for that
year was 42.5 percent, so the number of successful border crossers would have
reached some 2,224,000. But Warren and Warren’s estimates based on the ACS only
show a <b><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744247/">total of 1,389,322</a></b> undocumented immigrants entering the country that
year—and this includes both border crossers and overstays.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The observational rate seems
to give a more convincing result, and the government’s two different apprehension
rates have been close to each other since 2015, which suggests that that they
may both be fairly reliable now. For example, the observational rate for 2016
was 79.4 percent, while that year’s model-based rate was 83.9 percent. Applying
the observational rate to the 408,870 reported apprehensions, we would estimate
that a total of 106,000 migrants crossed the border that year without being
apprehended. The model-based rate would yield about 78,000 crossers who weren’t
apprehended.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These
rates from DHS are about halfway between the rates we calculated from the two
different ACS-based estimates. This suggests that the actual rate now is
somewhere around 80 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><i>Part
1:</i> <i><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html<br /></a></i><i>Part 2: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html<br /></a></i><i>Part 4: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html</a></i></span></h3>
<br />The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-77028815270334042972021-10-22T21:20:00.005-04:002021-10-25T21:33:27.214-04:00What’s the Relation Between Border Apprehensions and Unauthorized Entries? Part 2<p><span style="font-family: arial;">In <b><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html">Part 1</a></b> we considered the
official numbers for apprehensions at the Mexico-U.S. border and how the meaning of
those numbers fluctuates over time. Now we’ll consider ways to estimate the
number of unauthorized border crossers who become part of the general U.S.
population—that is, the ones who either evade apprehension or are allowed to
remain after apprehension.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For these numbers we need to
use estimates based on various sources. As with the apprehension numbers, the
metrics for the data in these sources aren’t necessarily consistent over time.
Adding to our difficulties, most government data uses the U.S. fiscal year,
which begins in October, while other sources may use the calendar year, or even
comparisons between certain months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We will note these
discrepancies but won’t try to adjust for them. All estimates will be rounded
to the nearest thousand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span>Calculating Changes in
the Undocumented Population</span></b><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One way to estimate the
number of successful border crossers is to study changes in the size of the
undocumented population.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The traditional approach to
determining this population’s size is the </span><b><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2016/09/20/methodology-10/"><span>residual method</span></a></b><span>. Demographers start from the estimated number of immigrants in Census
Bureau’s annual </span><b><a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs"><span>American Community Survey</span></a></b><span> (ACS), subtract the number of naturalized citizens
and green card holders, make adjustments for underreporting, and come up with
an estimate for the undocumented population in that year. (Note: the ACS is
based on the calendar year.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Conservatives frequently claim
this method </span><b><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/07/18/joe-biden-wants-amnesty-but-us-tally-of-illegal-immigrants-is-deeply-flawed/"><span>undercounts</span></a></b><span>
the undocumented population, but it has proved itself in a </span><b><a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/people-leave-footprints-millions-more-unauthorized-immigrants-cannot-be-hidden"><span>real-life test</span></a></b><span>: the “amnesty” of 1986. The number of migrants applying for
legalization was within the range the residual method predicted. Since then a
number of refinements have led to more </span><b><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/233150241400200403"><span>detailed ACS-based estimates</span></a></b><span>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>A further refinement of the
residual method is presented by demographers Robert Warren and John Robert
Warren in a </span><b><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744247/"><span>2013 paper</span></a></b><span>.
In addition to estimating the size of the undocumented population from 1990 to
2009, they break out estimates for the number of unauthorized migrants that
entered the country each year and the number that left the count—by emigrating,
adjusting their status, being deported, or dying. The year of entry is provided
by the ACS, and DHS supplies the number of those who adjusted status or were
deported; mortality is based on standard mortality rates for Latino males based
on age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The Warren and Warren </span><b><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744247/table/T3/?report=objectonly"><span>estimates</span></a></b><span>,
which run from 1990 through 2009, form a pattern not too far from that of
border apprehensions. The growth rate for the undocumented population reached a
high point in 2000 and then declined; by 2008 the number of people leaving the
undocumented population exceeded the number that entered. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXtMuBPYxrJYnnCduV_ow0RQprQa3jtYIEZlp7A-bbZcS-kqC_1m6i0wfR-0E3SoZYbRl0Ar_zfCYY96ryu42ZulreWxOlApSTOEBMLbckASpGboFCzF95flpOELJWGRRRVZiZoWbLcJw/s1536/undocumented-pop-year-millions-1536x611.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="1536" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXtMuBPYxrJYnnCduV_ow0RQprQa3jtYIEZlp7A-bbZcS-kqC_1m6i0wfR-0E3SoZYbRl0Ar_zfCYY96ryu42ZulreWxOlApSTOEBMLbckASpGboFCzF95flpOELJWGRRRVZiZoWbLcJw/w400-h159/undocumented-pop-year-millions-1536x611.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span>Source: </span></b><a href="https://immigration.procon.org/us-undocumented-immigrant-population-estimates" style="text-align: left;"><b><span>ProCon</span></b></a><b style="text-align: left;"><span>, based on Pew Research reports</span></b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Two other studies show that
the decline continued for at least the next decade: a </span><b><a href="https://immigration.procon.org/us-undocumented-immigrant-population-estimates"><span>summary</span></a></b><span> of
estimates through 2017 by </span><b><a href="https://pewresearch.org/"><span>Pew Research</span></a></b><span>, and unpublished data supplied by the </span><b><a href="https://cmsny.org/"><span>Center for Migration
Studies</span></a></b><span> (CMS) extending the
Warren and Warren estimates to 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">But What About the
Overstays?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, estimates of the
undocumented population don’t tell us how many of these migrants entered by
crossing the southwestern border. Many undocumented migrants enter with a visa
but overstay the visa’s expiration date; if they stay permanently, they become
part of the undocumented population.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In recent years this group may
have surpassed border crossers as a share of new undocumented arrivals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The main source for an overstay
count is an annual “entry/exit overstay” report from DHS. The report for </span><b><a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Entry%20and%20Exit%20Overstay%20Report%2C%20Fiscal%20Year%202016.pdf"><span>fiscal 2016</span></a></b><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span> </span></span><span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shows 50,437,278 entries by foreigners who
were issued visas for limited stays or were allowed to enter through the </span><b><a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html"><span>Visa Waiver Program</span></a></b><span>. The department subtracts the number of visa holders
who adjusted their status—received new visas or applied for permanent
residence—and estimates the number of visa holders who exited the country
before their visas expired. The result is what DHS calls 739,478</span> <span>“overstay events.” Subtracting people who simply
overstayed by a few months or less, DHS comes up with a 628,799 “suspected overstays.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>But these numbers are educated
guesses, as is shown by the term “suspected overstays.” The government has a
system for tracking people entering with visas, but tracking people leaving is
more difficult. Most enter and leave by air, along with some who travel by sea,
so it’s possible to track exits by consulting </span><b><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/44909"><span>passenger manifests</span></a></b><span>, but
matching the tens of millions of visa holders with the tens of millions of
manifests is a monumental task. And tracking is even more difficult for the
visa holders who enter and leave by land—mostly Canadians and Mexicans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are other hurdles to
estimating overstays. People who receive more than one visa in the course of a
year can overstay more than one time in a year, thus getting counted more than
once, and visa holders who die while in the US—elderly parents visiting their
children, for example—might be counted as overstays.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Correcting the Overcount<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>DHS’s estimate is a
significant overcount, according to demographer Robert Warren, who is Senior
Visiting Fellow at CMS. Warren uses the ACS data, including a breakdown by
national origin, to adjust the DHS overcount and provide a new estimate. Warren
and CMS Executive Director Donald explain the method in a </span><b><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/233150241700500107"><span>2018 article</span></a></b><span>, and Warren describes the results in an </span><b><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/233150241700500403"><span>accompanying article</span></a></b><span>. The number Warren comes up with for 2016 is 306,000,
less than half the DHS number.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAh8SX3kjzNSJn-Ujv86MQjkgGMAUbuzVQXrHRXD5IVbCbWy5yeQoFl5VUdvnza-sdoGcajLGBoqfWcJgJPIjE_z47uZUHfllEwlpFYMBOGwmB4wLoX5ZyBelW9VKad4wNxeOrueBYBA/s2048/Overstays.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1223" data-original-width="2048" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAh8SX3kjzNSJn-Ujv86MQjkgGMAUbuzVQXrHRXD5IVbCbWy5yeQoFl5VUdvnza-sdoGcajLGBoqfWcJgJPIjE_z47uZUHfllEwlpFYMBOGwmB4wLoX5ZyBelW9VKad4wNxeOrueBYBA/w400-h239/Overstays.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span>Source: </span></b><a href="https://cmsny.org/publications/essay-warren-042419/" style="text-align: left;"><b><span>Center for Migration Studies</span></b></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If we take this 2016
overstay estimate in conjunction with CMS’s 623,000 estimate for that year’s
unauthorized arrivals, then these 306,000 overstays would account for 49
percent of the arrivals, while 317,000 migrants had presumably entered the U.S.
population by crossing the border without authorization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Warren gives somewhat
different figures in a<b> </b></span><b><a href="https://cmsny.org/publications/essay-2017-undocumented-and-overstays/"><span>2019 CMS report</span></a></b><span>, estimating arrivals at 515,000 arrivals and overstays at 320,000, or
62 percent. By this estimate, only 195,000 migrants—or 38 percent of total
arrivals—had entered the U.S. population in 2016 by crossing the border without
authorization.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part
1:</i> <i><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border.html</a></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part 3:</i> <i><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html</a></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i>Part 4: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html</a><o:p></o:p></i></p><br /><p></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-27332519825280745012021-10-21T10:30:00.002-04:002021-10-25T21:24:37.077-04:00What’s the Relation Between Border Apprehensions and Unauthorized Entries? Part 1<p><span>Politicians and the media
have spent much of this year creating panic over the number of border
apprehensions, which have now reached their highest level in two decades. Very
few ask the obvious question: do more border apprehensions mean that more
people are now living in the United States without authorization?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>It’s true that the </span>number<i>
</i><span>of border apprehensions tends to mirror the number of unauthorized entries,
but the relation between the two numbers—that is, the apprehension rate—is complicated
and is constantly changing. A million border apprehensions now may not mean
the same thing as miallion border apprehensions meant in 2000. This year they
clearly don’t.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span>Understanding Border
Apprehensions</span></b><span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>There’s an easy way to
determine the <i>number</i> of apprehensions at the Mexico-U.S. border: the government
keeps records, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), part of the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), makes them </span><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters-by-component"><span><b>available on the web</b></span></a><span>. But the <i>nature</i> of these apprehensions keeps changing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>In 2000, for example, Border
Patrol agents would frequently just ID the migrants they had apprehended and
then release them; the official name for this is “voluntary return.” As a
result, an apprehended migrant might simply attempt a second crossing the next
day and be apprehended again. This recidivism meant that the number of
apprehensions was significantly higher than the number of individual migrants
apprehended.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>The “voluntary return” approach
was largely dropped during the administration of George W. Bush. The policy was
now to put as many migrants as possible through the deportation process, and
many were also </span><a href="https://nomoredeaths.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nmd_fact_sheet_operation_streamline.pdf"><span><b>criminally prosecuted</b></span></a><span> under a </span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325"><span><b>section</b></span></a><span> of the immigration
code—rarely used in the past—that made unauthorized border crossing a
misdemeanor with a six-month sentence for first offenders; there are </span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1326"><span><b>harsher penalties</b></span></a><span> for second
offenses. These measures made it less likely that an apprehended migrant would make
a second attempt and reduced the recidivism rate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>Other changes also affected
the number of apprehensions at the southwestern border. The Border Patrol has </span><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/Staffing%20FY1992-FY2018.pdf"><span><b>more than doubled</b></span></a><span> in size since 2000, and some 650 miles of barriers were installed on
the southwestern border during the century’s first decade. These factors made
migrants significantly more likely to be caught if they tried to enter, while the
increased likelihood of getting caught presumably discouraged people from making
the attempt.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span><span>Southwest Border
Apprehension and Border Patrol Staffing Levels, FY 1975-2017</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJJwshxZQc4VIBoDet6VeL3xSJPs1fNJtaaN5hjN88IN6a-jdZBgCv1YGE23R3Qjlk7C1CJSBlxYeOTaGVYKi8Q6tA7zEGerTzwW0bD8_0oUzKUnn0gGIYoOnPlWXoBYsVTv2LTgQssE/s751/BorderApprehensionsCommentaryMay2018_Fig3.Final-751x452.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="751" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJJwshxZQc4VIBoDet6VeL3xSJPs1fNJtaaN5hjN88IN6a-jdZBgCv1YGE23R3Qjlk7C1CJSBlxYeOTaGVYKi8Q6tA7zEGerTzwW0bD8_0oUzKUnn0gGIYoOnPlWXoBYsVTv2LTgQssE/w400-h241/BorderApprehensionsCommentaryMay2018_Fig3.Final-751x452.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Source: </span><a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/crisis-border-not-numbers" style="text-align: left;"><span><b>Migration Policy Institute, 2018</b></span></a></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span>Factoring in Asylum
Seekers<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>The number of border
apprehensions </span><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Monthly%20Apprehensions%20%28FY%202000%20-%20FY%202019%29_1.pdf"><span><b>declined dramatically</b></span></a><span> during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and remained
low for a decade, except for a significant increase in 2019. A number of
factors contributed to this reduction—the lack of employment opportunities in
the U.S., for example, a lower birth rate in Mexico, and the higher level of border enforcement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>There was another important
change: a new group of migrants appeared on the scene. Throughout history, the
people crossing the border had tended to be adult males, mostly Mexicans, who
were looking for work. Starting in 2014, more and more of the migrants being
apprehended were unaccompanied minors and family unit members, most of them
Central Americans </span><a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/rising-border-encounters-in-2021"><span><b>seeking asylum</b></span></a><span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>Unlike the single males, who
often try to evade capture by entering through dangerous but less well
patrolled sectors, these new migrants tend to enter in safer areas and turn
themselves in directly to Border Patrol agents in order to start the process of
establishing asylum claims. Immigration opponents talk about migrants “sneaking
across the border,” but in reality, asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors
often literally </span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-22/hundreds-of-migrants-cross-this-stretch-of-the-rio-grande-nightly"><span><b>walk into the arms</b></span></a><span> of waiting Border Patrol agents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>The ease with which asylum
seekers and unaccompanied children can be apprehended naturally led to an
increase in the apprehension rate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b>The Title 42 Effect</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>The COVID-19 pandemic has
been a major new factor in apprehensions since March 2020. Apprehensions of
asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors declined during the pandemic’s first
months due to lockdowns in the sending countries. But the rate started to rise
rapidly soon afterwards—largely as a result of a Trump administration policy of
invoking <b><a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-title-42-expulsions-border">Title 42</a></b> of the health code to exclude almost all non-citizens from
entering the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>Under Title 42, which the
Biden administration has continued in part, many migrants apprehended at the
southwestern border are simply IDed and then expelled back into Mexico. This is
in effect a resumption of the old “voluntary return” policy, and although the
returns are far from voluntary, the new policy has the same effect: expelled
migrants keep repeating their attempts to enter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span>Before Title 42 the annual
recidivism rate averaged 15 percent. By June 2021 it had more than doubled to </span><a href="https://www.wola.org/2021/06/weekly-border-update-cbp-data-points-to-a-rise-in-migrants-from-other-countries/"><span><b>38 percent</b></span></a><span>,
thus significantly increasing the number of apprehensions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i><span>Part
2: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_24.html</a></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i><span>Part 3:</span></i> <i><span><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_26.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><i><span>Part 4: <a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html">http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/08/whats-relation-between-border_28.html</a><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span><i></i></span></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-73992318592605009452021-10-07T16:44:00.005-04:002021-10-24T20:55:53.188-04:00Four of the Worst Takes on Asylum<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">News stories about asylum seekers
at the southwestern US border are regularly greeted with uninformed comments
from politicians, op-ed writers, and social media users. We’ve compiled a list
of four of the worst claims about asylum seekers, with explanations of the
actual situation. Please feel free to use our list if you encounter any of
these claims.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">1.
They should apply for asylum from within their own countries instead of taking
the long, dangerous journey to the United States.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Migrants
<i>cannot</i> apply for asylum from outside the United States. The U.S. asylum system
is only for people inside the country or at the border.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>U.S.
law (</span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158"><span><b>8 U.S. Code § 1158</b></span></a>) <span>defines an asylum seeker as someone seeking refuge at the U.S. border or
from within the United States</span><span>:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Any alien <i>who
is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States</i>
[emphasis added] (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including
an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in
international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status,
may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable,
section 1225(b) of this title. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">U.S. law
provides a different system for people seeking protection from inside another
country. These people are seeking status as “refugees”; this status is defined in
</span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1101"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>8 U.S. Code § 1101</b></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>.</b> But people seeking refugee status
can’t just visit a U.S. consulate to apply; they usually must go through a “</span><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>refugee process</b></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;">” involving an international refugee
agency. Moreover, this refugee process isn’t available in most of this
hemisphere’s nations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The Obama
administration did set up a refugee program called the </span><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/CAM"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>Central American Minors</b></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"> (CAM) program, and the Biden administration is </span><a href="https://www.state.gov/restarting-the-central-american-minors-program/"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>restarting it</b></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;">. But this program is very limited.
During nearly two years of operation under Obama, only about</span><a href="http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2021/06/no-cam-didnt-bring-millions-of-youths.html"><span style="line-height: 107%;"> <b>5,000 Central Americans</b></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"> managed to enter the United States
through CAM.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span>2.
Most asylum seekers pass through Mexico—and sometimes other countries</span></b><b><span>—</span></b><b><span>on their
way to the U.S. border, so they need to apply for asylum in those countries,
not here. Besides, they’d be better off in places where people speak Spanish.</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Migrants
are <i>not</i> required to apply for asylum in Mexico or other Latin American
countries. U.S. law only requires asylum seekers to apply in a country they
pass through if that country has a safe third country agreement with the United
States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Here
too </span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158"><span><b>8 U.S. Code § 1158</b></span></a><span><b> </b>is very specific. The right to seek asylum in the United States is
denied only in cases where<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the
Attorney General determines that the alien may be removed, pursuant to a
bilateral or multilateral agreement, to a country (other than the country of
the alien’s nationality or, in the case of an alien having no nationality, the
country of the alien’s last habitual residence) in which the alien’s life or
freedom would not be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and where the
alien would have access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to
asylum or equivalent temporary protection…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Canada
is the only country with which the United States has a formal </span><a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/42d7b9944.pdf"><span><b>safe third country agreement</b></span></a><span>.
The Trump administration negotiated agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and
Honduras relating to asylum seekers, but even that administration </span><a href="https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/dangers-trumps-safe-third-country-agreements-central-america"><span><b>didn’t have the nerve</b></span></a><span> to designate these as “safe third country agreements.”
The three Central American countries clearly didn’t meet the required standards
for protecting the asylum seeker’s life or freedom, and they are incapable of providing
a full and fair procedure for handling asylum claims.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Media
coverage often overlooks one important reason asylum seekers come to the United
States rather than nearby countries: Many have family and friends here who can
give them help and a place to stay as they pursue their claims. This an
especially important consideration for the many family groups with small
children and few resources.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Incidentally,
there are </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country"><span><b>more than 50 million</b></span></a><span> Spanish speakers in the United States. Mexico is the only country in
the world with a larger Spanish-speaking population.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span>3.
Asylum seekers need to enter the country properly at a port of entry;
otherwise, they can’t apply for asylum.</span></b><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How
asylum seekers enter the country has no effect on their right to apply for asylum;
neither does their immigration status.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>This
is yet another case where the law is perfectly clear: </span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158"><span><b>8 U.S. Code § 1158</b></span></a><span> states
that <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Any alien
who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United
States (<i>whether or not at a designated port of</i> <i>arrival</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[emphasis added] and including an alien who is
brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or
United States waters), <i>irrespective of such alien’s status </i>[emphasis
added], may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where
applicable, section 1225(b) of this title.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>There are </span><a href="https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/faq-why-do-asylum-seekers-cross-us-border-between-ports-entry"><span><b>various reasons</b></span></a><span>
why asylum seekers would decide cross the border between ports of entry,
including the presence of dangerous gangs in some Mexican cities near the ports
of entry. Border agents also frequently find excuses to impede asylum seekers
at the ports of entry. The problem has gotten worse since the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which the U.S. government has used as a </span><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/08/qa-us-title-42-policy-expel-migrants-border"><span><b>pretext</b></span></a><span>
for blocking still more asylum seekers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span>4. Most asylum seekers are just trying to get into the
United States and disappear. Once inside, most never attend their court
hearings.</span></b><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The government doesn’t provide reliable statistics showing the
rate of court attendance by asylum seekers, but studies show that most do in
fact attend their hearings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Determining the rate at which asylum seekers
“disappear” is extremely complicated, but the </span><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2021/04/factchecking-claims-about-asylum-grants-and-immigration-court-attendance/"><span><b>overwhelming evidence</b></span></a><span> is that very few simply remain in the country without
pursuing their claims. A University of Pennsylvania Law School study showed a
95 percent attendance rate between 2008 and 2018 for people who had applied for
relief through asylum, cancellation of removal, or some other legal option for
remaining in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-39431534977198688252021-07-20T13:44:00.004-04:002021-07-20T14:10:21.542-04:00Let’s Call the “Border Crisis” What It Is: Another Big Lie From the Right<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOLx8hrKDM_8tp1YxCB-Q8qik9Bf5d4zk_PT3kcZ_CSfSN-vkwpkaFTqQkoWHbvwoB3bAPGKGkydrYfoEpETi-EJXZU4TwApVch-53MFHzOn7BDWYsuFWO2WAL0GWCvDbgmpE-SjGrkc/s1536/2021_0720-lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-border-1536x1024.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOLx8hrKDM_8tp1YxCB-Q8qik9Bf5d4zk_PT3kcZ_CSfSN-vkwpkaFTqQkoWHbvwoB3bAPGKGkydrYfoEpETi-EJXZU4TwApVch-53MFHzOn7BDWYsuFWO2WAL0GWCvDbgmpE-SjGrkc/w400-h266/2021_0720-lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-border-1536x1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">GOP pols tour the border in March. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times;"><br /><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Undocumented immigrants
aren’t actually a problem, but the Republican Party has framed them “as
criminals and lawbreakers and a grave threat to the nation in order to motivate
and mobilize the Republican base, to great effect,” Massey told </i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Truthout</span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">. Up until
now, the Democrats have failed to push back, he added.</i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">By David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">July 20, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Republican politicians and
commentators spent the last week of June promoting their claim that this year’s
increase in apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes — in the words
of Fox News host </span><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-illegal-immigration-at-southern-border-biden-administrations-policy-changes"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sean Hannity</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> — “a crisis of a monumental scale.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The campaign’s high point
came on June 30 when former president Donald Trump visited a stretch of the
border wall near Pharr, Texas, and delivered a number of “</span><a href="https://www.borderreport.com/politics/trump-plays-loose-with-facts-on-border-visit-but-hammers-home-rise-in-illegal-migration-fentanyl-trafficking/"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">questionable statements</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">” about his administration’s supposed enforcement
successes.[…]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">Read the full article:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/lets-call-the-border-crisis-what-it-is-another-big-lie-from-the-right/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">https://truthout.org/articles/lets-call-the-border-crisis-what-it-is-another-big-lie-from-the-right/</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-81830736769639048312021-07-13T15:57:00.005-04:002021-07-20T13:44:47.185-04:00 It’s the US Government’s Immigration Policy That’s Illegal<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>“The violation of asylum seekers’ rights over the past three years under both Trump and Biden demonstrates how easily a president can ignore and even defy the law — especially when the victims are poor or marginalized and not enough of us speak out.</i>”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>By David L. Wilson, <i>Jacobin</i><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: times;"><b>July 12, 2021</b><br /></span><span style="font-family: times;">There’s a crisis on the imaginary line that separates the United States from Mexico, but it’s not the one politicians and media outlets have been talking about.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times;">Earlier this year, the US political class was focused on a supposed “<b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/23/theres-no-migrant-surge-us-southern-border-heres-data/">surge</a></b>” in migration and on serious — but not <b><a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/spike-unaccompanied-child-arrivals-proves-enduring-challenge">unprecedented </a></b>— failures in the <b><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/no-good-choices-hhs-is-cutting-safety-corners-to-move-migrant-kids-out-of-overcrowded-facilities">treatment of unaccompanied minors</a></b>. This distracted attention from two far more serious issues: the Trump administration’s misnamed <b><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-has-disappeared-more-than-42000-migrants-wheres-the-outrage/">Migrant Protection Protocols</a></b> (MPP), now discontinued, and the ongoing use of the US health code’s <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-title-42-expulsions-border"><b>Title 42</b></a> to exclude asylum seekers from entering the country.[…]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Read the full article:</b><br /></span><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/us-immigration-policy-legality-title-42-biden-trump-asylum-mpp-border-surge-human-rights/">https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/us-immigration-policy-legality-title-42-biden-trump-asylum-mpp-border-surge-human-rights/</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RtH-nB74bFOLkail2zinLTa6vE4ghOi4TSq0cpCYVuOBc08dBTQcEIROki-eZq5nuRWbEhLHL29yrtgJ0j4J70GMYPx8SOubChnUHiDkMTdjIZTnYntlMqY0q9XU7VZdnXUgqUxQD94/s1024/MigrantCamp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RtH-nB74bFOLkail2zinLTa6vE4ghOi4TSq0cpCYVuOBc08dBTQcEIROki-eZq5nuRWbEhLHL29yrtgJ0j4J70GMYPx8SOubChnUHiDkMTdjIZTnYntlMqY0q9XU7VZdnXUgqUxQD94/w400-h267/MigrantCamp.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; text-align: left;">Title 42 victims in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-50427967308973843292021-06-29T15:29:00.013-04:002021-07-05T21:52:33.566-04:00What Border Crisis?<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Annual Border Patrol Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border, FY 1970 – FY 2020</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4GnIglX_bjKBFGSvMWRuQ3zF7DnHKdISl-D-4-6c1kdbmKq6Q43ANka4jqN5PzmaKZORQ6ejTRedPvQQAVb0U4GvrRgR4Y9rwltg3AQTj8l1fOmVSYv25ADxuBbkmJr6TEyVyOfoOzs/s882/rising_border_encounters_in_2021_figure_1_1-882x427.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="882" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4GnIglX_bjKBFGSvMWRuQ3zF7DnHKdISl-D-4-6c1kdbmKq6Q43ANka4jqN5PzmaKZORQ6ejTRedPvQQAVb0U4GvrRgR4Y9rwltg3AQTj8l1fOmVSYv25ADxuBbkmJr6TEyVyOfoOzs/w400-h194/rising_border_encounters_in_2021_figure_1_1-882x427.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Figure 1 from "Rising Border Encounters in 2021"</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On June 24 the </span><a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>American
Immigration Council</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> released an
updated version of its indispensable </span><a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/rising-border-encounters-in-2021"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>fact sheet</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
on this year’s border encounters. Like the previous versions, this one
demonstrates that there actually isn’t a “border crisis”—at least not the one
that the right wing and much of media have been hyping for the past five
months.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Of course there are </span><a href="https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/update-grave-dangers-continue-asylum-seekers-blocked-expelled-mexico-biden-administration"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>real crises</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
at the border: the after-effects of the previous administration’s “Remain
in Mexico” policy, the present administration’s maintenance of Trump’s
expulsions under Title 42 of the health code, and the </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57561760"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>continuing failures</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, despite some improvements, to provide acceptable treatment to minors
who have crossed the border. But the crisis of hundreds of thousands of
foreigners rushing across an <b>“</b></span><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/05/30/bidens-imposed-a-de-facto-open-borders-policy/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>open border</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>”</b>
is simply a fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The statistics do show that more
immigrants are being encountered (or apprehended) by the Border Patrol than at
any other time in fifteen years. But the fact of more encounters doesn’t
necessarily mean more migrants are successfully entering the country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The Border Crossings Have
Declined…<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The “border crisis”
narrative ignores differences in the types of encounter, and in the types of
people crossing the border. The Council’s fact sheet carefully breaks down these
differences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">“For nearly a 35-year period
beginning in the mid-1970s, the Border Patrol routinely apprehended at least
1,000,000 migrants a year,” the fact sheet notes. A still greater number of
migrants succeeded in entering the country without authorization. For example,
in fiscal year (FY) 2000 the Border Patrol reported 1.7 million apprehensions, but
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “estimates that there were an
additional 2.1 million successful unlawful entries.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The situation changed
rapidly as the number of Border Patrol agents increased—from “11,264 in FY 2005
to 21,444 in FY 2011.” The result was that by fiscal 2012 DHS estimated that
for the first time, more border crossers were apprehended than succeeded in
entering. Moreover, by then the Great Recession and changing conditions in
Mexico had reduced the number of Mexicans seeking work here: “migration from
Mexico declined sharply, falling from 1,089,092 apprehensions in FY 2006 to
340,252 apprehensions in FY 2011.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But 2014 brought a new
phenomenon, an increase in migrants seeking asylum or arriving as unaccompanied
minors. U.S. law has special provisions for <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158"><b>asylum seekers</b></a>, along with </span><a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43664.pdf"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>unaccompanied
minors</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> from countries other than
Canada and Mexico. These migrants usually turn themselves in to the Border
Patrol; they know that if they pass an initial screening for “credible fear,”
they will allowed to remain in the United States temporarily to pursue their
cases.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">There have been a number of
spikes in border crossings by these migrants—in 2014, 2016, 2019, and this
year. Each of these spikes was treated as a “border crisis” by the media, although none approached the level of unauthorized entry in the years before the Great
Recession.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">…But Border Encounters
Have Increased</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">Asylum seekers and unaccompanied
minors aren’t the majority of the border crossers this year, however. What about the other border crossers?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">One reason this group has grown
large is the Biden administration’s continued use of Title 42 to push migrants
back from the border without detaining and processing them. “In the first four
full months of the Biden administration, 65.4% of all people encountered by the
Border Patrol at the border were expelled under Title 42,” the Council notes.
As a result, a migrant who has been pushed back can simply try again. For example, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/crisis-border-happened/story?id=78312099"><b>38 percent</b></a> of the migrants encountered in May had attempted to enter previously within this fiscal year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Each of the migrant’s
attempted crossings can result in encountering a Border Patrol agent, and this is then reported as a new border encounter—even though the migrant may never
have succeeded in entering the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Individuals
Apprehended by the Border Patrol and Not Expelled, 10/12 – 5/21<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: times;"></span></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirvyyoZK7euccH7RNbzi_9r76EiGgpHi7LZXksuuzYuR6PRpyBzwbUMLOavJT4BHamTgy-OR6xj4T6ViZdoLlKWHS1pbItUaAubTs4ZB6UECdC-jZJpkURWKnqNHbl3TneSKgDOnTbI0/s882/rising_border_encounters_in_2021_figure_4_2-882x427.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="882" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirvyyoZK7euccH7RNbzi_9r76EiGgpHi7LZXksuuzYuR6PRpyBzwbUMLOavJT4BHamTgy-OR6xj4T6ViZdoLlKWHS1pbItUaAubTs4ZB6UECdC-jZJpkURWKnqNHbl3TneSKgDOnTbI0/w400-h194/rising_border_encounters_in_2021_figure_4_2-882x427.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Figure 4 from</span> </b><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Rising Border Encounters in 2021"</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This results in border
encounter statistics that only reflect <i>attempts</i> to enter this country, not
actual entries. In fact, unauthorized entry has remained relatively
low—significantly <i>lower</i> than it was fifteen years ago. As the Council’s
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick noted in a </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1404470975568154625"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>June 14 tweet</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,
the number of migrants who get across the border without being apprehended is
probably about five times lower than the number in 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">If the current situation is
a border crisis, then the United States has been experiencing a border crisis
at least since the 1970s, under eight different administrations.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-78793600209393013962021-06-13T22:16:00.027-04:002021-06-15T06:43:57.617-04:00Hey VP Harris, Here Is a Progressive Way to Address the Root Causes of Migration<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGRyN5X8eJKrWYl1r0w681Ttos6BmNg5utL3EJpEFAe-eK5yDXsVvh90Z5nW_04sL1dS0E5HQI11c2k4-bNbAY6GZa_M5zSWB2v9FDlTQUodFP0mZGvVt31P1jY0g01B_L9NKO125IBmY/s1536/HarrisGuatemala.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGRyN5X8eJKrWYl1r0w681Ttos6BmNg5utL3EJpEFAe-eK5yDXsVvh90Z5nW_04sL1dS0E5HQI11c2k4-bNbAY6GZa_M5zSWB2v9FDlTQUodFP0mZGvVt31P1jY0g01B_L9NKO125IBmY/w400-h266/HarrisGuatemala.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">VP Harris meets with Guatemalan officials. Photo: Kent Nishimura/LAT/Getty Images</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">This
isn’t to say that progressives should view their program as primarily an answer
to the supposed “border crisis.” After all, there’s no reason to fear
migration.... But the occasional spikes in border crossings give progressives
an opportunity to go on the offensive, to describe the ways that their program
would improve the lives of working people both at home and abroad.</span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">By David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">June 13, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The recent focus on the
rising number of Central American asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border
could have one positive result: it creates an opening that activists can use to
promote a progressive foreign and domestic agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">The two parties are split
over how to slow the current rise in migration. Republicans favor the sort of
harsh measures that the Trump administration inflicted on migrants; centrist Democrats
also support deterrence, but they propose moderating it slightly and spending a
few billion dollars to address Central American migration’s root causes. Vice
President Kamala Harris’s statements during her June 7-8 trip to Guatemala and
Mexico were typical.[…]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Read the full article:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/hey-kamala-here-is-a-progressive-way-to-address-the-root-causes-of-migration/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">https://truthout.org/articles/hey-kamala-here-is-a-progressive-way-to-address-the-root-causes-of-migration/</span></a></span></p></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-27370869383339859822021-06-05T07:46:00.024-04:002021-06-19T16:47:53.623-04:00Biden Has Restarted the Central American Minors Program. Will That Help?<p></p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">On March 10 the U.S. State Department </span><a href="https://www.state.gov/restarting-the-central-american-minors-program/"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>announced
officially</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> that it was restarting the Obama administration’s Central
American Minors (CAM) program, a process for Central American youths to seek
refugee status from within their own countries instead of having to travel
across Mexico to the U.S. border.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CAM will definitely benefit a certain number of Central
Americans, but it will do little for most of the tens of thousands of Central Americans
now seeking asylum from dangers in their countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Obama administration announced the earlier CAM program
in the fall of 2014. The proposal sparked </span><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/us-program-to-resettle-central-american-minors-likely-to-help-few/"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>wild
accusations</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> from the right wing about “a dangerous
situation” and “[p]otentially millions” of Central American youths being flown
into the United States “with taxpayer dollars.” In reality, as we warned at the
time, the program could only help a limited number.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The program, we noted, was <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">only open to immigrant parents from El Salvador, Guatemala
and Honduras who are “lawfully present” in the United States. They may be legal
permanent residents (LPRs), for example, or be covered by temporary protected
status (TPS), or they may have had their deportations deferred.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Applicants also had
to go through a time-consuming vetting process while remaining in their home
country, which ruled out people in immediate danger. And since CAM was
administered through the refugee program, the number of minors accepted was
restricted by the administration’s proposed ceilings for refugees. In 2015 the
ceiling was 4,000 for all of Latin America, and most of the slots were already
allocated to Cubans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How Did the First CAM
Turn Out?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we predicted, relatively few Central American minors were
admitted into the United States through the program, which ran for less than
two years before being shut down by the Trump White House.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyJE0eoeFrt91XH2499Og_PMxcBmtEImQJsbqBuzlFADZkkqeP3bGYr7IkmBBIWl-KARqex14slN9XZMWfDxGa7xiZ393r70In72h2MrtGbin8zQZR5shyphenhyphenmsDUlpQeGSYq-NI7yQRzcc/s1843/CAM+article.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1843" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyJE0eoeFrt91XH2499Og_PMxcBmtEImQJsbqBuzlFADZkkqeP3bGYr7IkmBBIWl-KARqex14slN9XZMWfDxGa7xiZ393r70In72h2MrtGbin8zQZR5shyphenhyphenmsDUlpQeGSYq-NI7yQRzcc/w400-h180/CAM+article.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;">No, CAM didn't bring millions of youths to the U.S.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A total of 2,631 Central American minors ended up being
settled here as refugees, we learned in February from a spokesperson for the
State Department, which managed the program. Some other minors were admitted to
the United States temporarily in a parole program administered by U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services; these parolees would be able to seek
permanent status from within the country through other channels. (Presumably
this would include such avenues as protection under the Convention Against
Torture.) According to information provided by USCIS spokesperson Victoria
Palmer, about 2,400 of these parolees had entered the country by last December;
it’s not clear how many have had their cases resolved.*<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So how many Central American minors will actually benefit
from the resurrected CAM program? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The limitations on the original program still apply with the
revived program. The </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/03/memorandum-for-the-secretary-of-state-on-the-emergency-presidential-determination-on-refugee-admissions-for-fiscal-year-2021-2/"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>new
refugee ceilings</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> the government announced on May 3 are
somewhat higher than those for 2015, with a total of 5,000 slots allocated for
Latin America and the Caribbean, an increase of 1,000; in addition, Cubans no longer have the
priority they had in 2015. So the number of minors granted refugee status or
paroled into the country each year will probably be higher than under the Obama
administration, but it will remain in the low thousands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In short, restarting the CAM program will save a number of
youths from danger in Central America. This is laudable, but it certainly won’t
be enough to stop tens of thousands of Central Americans from fleeing north to
escape intolerable conditions at home. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">*
USCIS’s Palmer told us that approximately 1,450 applicants were paroled into
the U.S. before the program was terminated in August 2017. She also provided a
copy of a quarterly court status report for <a href="https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=16651"><b>S.A. et al v. Trump</b></a>,
the suit challenging the program’s termination. The report, filed Dec. 30, 2020,
showed that another 950 minors had been paroled into that country by that date.</span></span></i></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-75927241124015489792021-05-24T19:19:00.003-04:002021-05-24T19:21:32.301-04:00Media ‘Border Crisis’ Threatens Immigration Reform<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNu5XSwrUlQrx3itkXLKvp8tbl1VKdEkaw7sWF7YQwm5YGcn8Xl4oPyDLSpQjUv7-3srI0UBqvGaI9DJdXI7RueVsmV5o-uWtq0zmj5vbUwmAw-ma2Tk8mAN2e0fwtjFzqkeNAyPUnhnA/s1024/NYT-Border-Crossing-1024x532.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="1024" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNu5XSwrUlQrx3itkXLKvp8tbl1VKdEkaw7sWF7YQwm5YGcn8Xl4oPyDLSpQjUv7-3srI0UBqvGaI9DJdXI7RueVsmV5o-uWtq0zmj5vbUwmAw-ma2Tk8mAN2e0fwtjFzqkeNAyPUnhnA/w400-h208/NYT-Border-Crossing-1024x532.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Herika Martinez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;">Establishment
coverage has featured hyperbole about recent migration trends and an
inexcusable lack of historical context. Worse yet, this style of reporting
could have serious consequences in the real world: It may sabotage prospects
for a long overdue reform of the US immigration system.</span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">By David L. Wilson, <i>Fairness
and Accuracy in Reporting<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">May 24, 2021</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">It’s no surprise that
right-wing media have hyped a supposed crisis on the US/Mexico border, or that
much of the television coverage of current immigration issues has tended to be
superficial. What’s striking is how badly the situation has been represented in
the more centrist and prestigious parts of the corporate media.[…]</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Read the full article:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><a href="https://fair.org/home/media-border-crisis-threatens-immigration-reform/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">https://fair.org/home/media-border-crisis-threatens-immigration-reform/</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-3731518713791558462021-02-20T10:25:00.005-05:002021-05-24T19:22:24.866-04:00Crediting Xenophobia—Rather Than Organizing—With Raising Workers’ Wages<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> <i><span style="line-height: 107%;">For
years, the media narrative has been that repressive immigration
policies—billions spent on immigration enforcement, families torn apart,
thousands dying on the southwestern border—ill somehow lead to wage hikes.
They haven’t, and they won’t.</span></i></span></p>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span>By David L. Wilson, <i>Fairness
and Accuracy in Reporting<br /></i></span></b><b><span>February 19, 2021</span></b></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The
Economist (<b><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/02/13/immigration-to-america-is-down-wages-are-up" target="_blank">2/15/20</a></b>) ran a brief article last year with a startling headline:
“Immigration to America Is Down. Wages Are Up. Are the Two Related?” Maybe, the
article’s anonymous author answered, at least for the short term.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">A few on the
right were quick to cite this conclusion as support for former President
Trump’s efforts to deter immigration.[…]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Read the full article:</span></b></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://fair.org/home/crediting-xenophobia-rather-than-organizing-with-raising-workers-wages/">https://fair.org/home/crediting-xenophobia-rather-than-organizing-with-raising-workers-wages/</a></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNMt1FYUpLH3S0TzsYieYC_1syR24EN1_H7RwuIg1ie2CGfgG7gaRBSiI5VoFSCe57mSLVY1ymbQmeIELzZwmh9lu7702Kqa7mCUGVvPcrIdFPtuuJHwFlczBMZWrElsuTTicHeZZ3IO0/s1000/Economist-Statue-of-Liberty.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNMt1FYUpLH3S0TzsYieYC_1syR24EN1_H7RwuIg1ie2CGfgG7gaRBSiI5VoFSCe57mSLVY1ymbQmeIELzZwmh9lu7702Kqa7mCUGVvPcrIdFPtuuJHwFlczBMZWrElsuTTicHeZZ3IO0/w400-h225/Economist-Statue-of-Liberty.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Photo: Magnum<br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-5602032010178357792021-01-12T21:28:00.007-05:002021-01-12T22:14:52.644-05:00America Through Nazi Eyes<p><i>This 2019 </i>Dissent<i> article "America Through Nazi Eyes" provides fascinating information about the US influence on Nazi immigration policies, but it also contains two errors in its discussion of the US policies.</i></p><div><i>1. The </i><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress/session-2/c1s2ch3.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1610588685186000&usg=AFQjCNEO-hc42QexvjW-QreLoHpTxOVC_Q" href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress/session-2/c1s2ch3.pdf" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank"><b>Naturalization Act of 1790</b></a><i> didn't limit immigration to “free white person[s]"; it denied immigrants of color the ability to become citizens through </i>naturalization<i>, as its title indicates. In other words, immigrants of color could immigrate here, have their labor exploited here, and pay taxes here, but they couldn't become citizens.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>2. Chinese people weren't all "excluded from citizenship in the late 1800s." </i>Most<i> were excluded from citizenship, and almost all were barred from immigrating here, but in fact there were Chinese-American citizens.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>People of Chinese origin automatically became citizens if they were born here, based on the 14th Amendment (as upheld by the Supreme Court in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649&source=gmail&ust=1610588685186000&usg=AFQjCNFVpYEa1Y3Yr5tOv6O8S_MEMcjaHg" href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649" target="_blank"><b>Wong Kim Ark</b></a>, 1898). But Chinese immigrants couldn't become citizens through naturalization; the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/41st-congress/session-2/c41s2ch254.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1610588685186000&usg=AFQjCNEzS3pQYrbyESH_Wwjef76S3pNTuA" href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/41st-congress/session-2/c41s2ch254.pdf" target="_blank"><b>Naturalization Act of 1870</b></a> extended the ability to naturalize to "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent," but not to other immigrants of color. And the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/chinese_exclusion_act.asp&source=gmail&ust=1610588685186000&usg=AFQjCNG87zKL3v5H1x2B5_LHSak-F7jpJA" href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/chinese_exclusion_act.asp" target="_blank"><b>Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882</b></a> completely barred Chinese laborers from entering the country, although some more privileged Chinese still could come here</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>These may not seem like major distinctions, but it's important to understand that while the US originally had racist limitations on naturalization, it didn't limit immigration itself until later. The first federal laws limiting immigration appeared in the late 19th century with the anti-Chinese legislation</i>.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1878" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZXJGz3bYmyKl6t8da1jMLSnh9S52OxXJZVR-yljNc14_j0DnbuH1Sz4Jgw99rkpwMeVW_0ud04nDp5UQ5EY8sqQxAZsdvCcSFwcEsxyehb1lzyDuqDCQcPgOQt6vuWy6EZJ7uVmG92I/w400-h198/DissentArticle.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Bus Station, Durham, NC, May 1940. Photo: Jack Delano/Library of Congress" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bus Station, Durham, NC, 1940. Photo: Jack Delano/Library of Congress</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZXJGz3bYmyKl6t8da1jMLSnh9S52OxXJZVR-yljNc14_j0DnbuH1Sz4Jgw99rkpwMeVW_0ud04nDp5UQ5EY8sqQxAZsdvCcSFwcEsxyehb1lzyDuqDCQcPgOQt6vuWy6EZJ7uVmG92I/s1878/DissentArticle.png"><span style="color: black;"></span></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">America Through Nazi Eyes</span></b></div><div><b>By Omer Aziz, <i>Dissent</i></b></div><div><b>Winter 2019</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>In September 1933, an important policy document known as the Prussian Memorandum began circulating among lawmakers and jurists of the Third Reich.[...]</div><div><br /></div><div>Read the full article:</div><div><a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/america-through-the-nazi-eyes">https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/america-through-the-nazi-eyes</a></div><div><br /></div><div> </div></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-10248680999504273912020-09-23T22:26:00.000-04:002020-09-23T22:26:03.955-04:00 The Democrats’ immigration agenda: Bolder, but not bold enough<p class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrcUjfF5xOankTasKLv9tdunlfsPtblmB80GgYs018FGE38y8ZpiRs-bC6OACbphmzYhxTzgg1MkUXdjjn7z3HPnXvZEeTu1JGfY5PWLA7CYcQ-cgntjdRntQD7AfKc6LUhRVFNlZCZc/s2048/A-May-Day-march-in-Yakima-Washington-scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="2048" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrcUjfF5xOankTasKLv9tdunlfsPtblmB80GgYs018FGE38y8ZpiRs-bC6OACbphmzYhxTzgg1MkUXdjjn7z3HPnXvZEeTu1JGfY5PWLA7CYcQ-cgntjdRntQD7AfKc6LUhRVFNlZCZc/w400-h269/A-May-Day-march-in-Yakima-Washington-scaled.jpg" title="Yakima Nation members march with immigrant farm workers. Photo: David Bacon/Capital & Main" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">Yakima Nation members march with immigrants. Photo: <a href="https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/"><span style="border: 0in none windowtext; color: #222222; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;">David Bacon</span></a>/</span><span style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: #444444; text-align: left;">Capital & Main</span></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b>By David L. Wilson, <i>MR Online</i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b>September 23, 2020</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">The immigration plank in this year’s <b><a href="https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/">Democratic Party
platform</a></b> is a reminder that real immigration reform isn’t going to
happen without serious grassroots organizing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The platform, which the Democratic National Convention
approved on August 18, is largely based on a <b><a href="https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf">110-page
document</a></b> produced by six policy task forces that former vice president
Joe Biden and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders set up in May. According to the <b><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/us/politics/joe-biden-economy-democrats.html">New
York Times</a></b>, the Democrats were seeking “to assemble a new governing
agenda…far bolder than anything the party establishment has embraced
before.”[…]</p><div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #444444;">Read the full article:</div><div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #444444;"><a href="https://mronline.org/2020/09/23/the-democrats-immigration-agenda/">https://mronline.org/2020/09/23/the-democrats-immigration-agenda/</a></div></div>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-44745978505782258012020-08-19T14:33:00.000-04:002020-08-19T14:35:24.859-04:00 Anti-Immigrant Policies Are Not Only Cruel, They Also Have an Economic Cost<p><i>Legalization and a fair work
visa program would raise wages for many U.S.-born workers as well. This wage
increase would in itself provide an important stimulus to an economy facing its
worst crisis since the 1930s.</i></p>
<div style="text-align: left;"><b>By David L. Wilson, Truthout</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>August 19, 2020</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the
government agency that processes visas, green cards and citizenship
applications, claims it’s going broke. USCIS officials are threatening to
furlough some <b><a href="https://fcw.com/articles/2020/07/24/russell-uscis-furloughs-postponed.aspx">13,400
employees</a></b> as early as August 30, after itially planning the measure
for August 3. The furloughs would add to what was already a huge backlog in
application processing, creating a disaster for tens of thousands of immigrant
applicants. As many as 126,000 people already approved for citizenship may not
be naturalized in time to <b><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/looming-immigration-services-shutdown-may-fuel-voter-suppression-in-2020/">register
for the November elections</a>.</b></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Trump administration officials blame the agency’s financial
problems on the COVID-19 pandemic...</p>
<div style="text-align: left;"><b>Read the full article:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/anti-immigrant-policies-are-not-only-cruel-they-also-have-an-economic-cost/"><span style="font-weight: normal;">https://truthout.org/articles/anti-immigrant-policies-are-not-only-cruel-they-also-have-an-economic-cost/</span></a></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qKL1NrISZKvWcHH06DRkC_WdrtYdd5JBlCd3I_hk1oIEw6Dz0Wd7tYrRAPFROIdYh8a_DOBs1nAVMWIgP2LDCvqt1Vj3SbG1LGbKAqPFbk5J3enK2cX7AfZw1RUwelpMFYeQ3BtNPVQ/s1200/EconomicCostArticlePix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qKL1NrISZKvWcHH06DRkC_WdrtYdd5JBlCd3I_hk1oIEw6Dz0Wd7tYrRAPFROIdYh8a_DOBs1nAVMWIgP2LDCvqt1Vj3SbG1LGbKAqPFbk5J3enK2cX7AfZw1RUwelpMFYeQ3BtNPVQ/w400-h267/EconomicCostArticlePix.jpg" title="U.S.-Mexico border fence in Playas de Tijuana, BC. Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">U.S.-Mexico border fence in Playas de Tijuana, BC. Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-1239465961206219372020-07-15T15:48:00.000-04:002020-07-15T15:50:42.110-04:00Trump’s Guest Worker Ban Sparks New Focus on Immigrant Push for Labor Overhaul<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background: rgb(248 , 248 , 248); color: #0a0a0a; font-size: 11pt;">“Most media coverage has treated the issue as a
choice between bringing guest workers in and keeping them out. But there are
better options</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>July 15, 2020</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Trump’s decision <b><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/trump-responds-to-covid-19-spike-by-cracking-down-on-immigration/">to
suspend</a></b> the majority of U.S. guest worker programs for at least six
months, announced in a June 22 <b><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/">proclamation</a></b>,
has provoked a lot of debate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Mark Krikorian, who heads the immigration-restrictionist
<b><a href="https://cis.org/">Center for Immigration Studies</a></b>, the
suspension is “a bold move … to <b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-immigration-workers-coronavirus/2020/06/22/3b969e88-b489-11ea-9b0f-c797548c1154_story.html">protect
American jobs</a></b>,” while South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham warns it
will have “a <b><a href="https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1275199130848178180">chilling
effect</a></b> on our economic recovery.” [...]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Read the full article:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-guest-worker-ban-sparks-new-focus-on-immigrant-push-for-labor-overhaul/">https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-guest-worker-ban-sparks-new-focus-on-immigrant-push-for-labor-overhaul/</a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJqxmZwZN5FV11tHur35kHfhP_8M-K1xhkL3fOLgq604FZneDQIjR5rXMEQdmeFyVmMomChyrJ3kBIBDktsLbYVT0qq1RAH-ub6RoHCd2UOUkT7_HOyhuDefC1oHRZ2rRvg1RemKJ1ns/s1600/2020_0715worker-1200x835.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="1200" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJqxmZwZN5FV11tHur35kHfhP_8M-K1xhkL3fOLgq604FZneDQIjR5rXMEQdmeFyVmMomChyrJ3kBIBDktsLbYVT0qq1RAH-ub6RoHCd2UOUkT7_HOyhuDefC1oHRZ2rRvg1RemKJ1ns/s400/2020_0715worker-1200x835.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Construction worker in NYC. Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-65463532555347758202020-05-10T10:56:00.000-04:002020-05-10T10:56:39.362-04:00Trump, asylum, and the Honduran drug traffickers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i>There doesn’t seem to be much public outrage about the
blatant hypocrisy of Trump using the Navy to threaten Maduro while bonding with
Hernández on Twitter.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By David L. Wilson, <i>MR Online</i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b>May 9, 2020<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On April 30 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it
was charging <b><a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-chief-honduran-national-police-charged-drug-trafficking-and-weapons-offenses">Juan
Carlos Bonilla Valladares</a></b>, a former head of the Honduran National
Police, with “conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.” According
to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, the ex-police chief carried out
some of his crimes “on behalf of convicted former Honduran congressman Tony
Hernández and his brother,” Honduran president Juan Carlos Hernández.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the third time in less than a year that the U.S.
government <b><a href="https://www.fromthesquare.org/trump-asylum-and-hondurass-narco-state/#.XrgG2URKjIV">has
linked</a></b> the Honduran chief executive to drug traffickers.[…]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Read the full article;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://mronline.org/2020/05/09/trump-asylum-and-the-honduran-drug-traffickers/">https://mronline.org/2020/05/09/trump-asylum-and-the-honduran-drug-traffickers/</a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIXGg5GB9yoGe_a7tFuam3quAcdsb3lKqVF3s2R5fgjiMNTs75IdfgvSPi2bPoBF5P45rtUJjde9cnvk9eGp2urKrl1C4HET_EdtQHZIkSjpuFVDMSgjP3I2uu_0GnRqsmQlkfsiG0NE/s1600/Manuel_Noriega_with_agents_from_the_U.S._DEA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIXGg5GB9yoGe_a7tFuam3quAcdsb3lKqVF3s2R5fgjiMNTs75IdfgvSPi2bPoBF5P45rtUJjde9cnvk9eGp2urKrl1C4HET_EdtQHZIkSjpuFVDMSgjP3I2uu_0GnRqsmQlkfsiG0NE/s400/Manuel_Noriega_with_agents_from_the_U.S._DEA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add captionDEA agents with Manuel Noriega after 1989 invasion. Photo: public domain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-86342056928901061432020-04-30T10:24:00.002-04:002020-04-30T10:25:50.810-04:00 Trump’s Immigration Suspension Doesn’t Prevent Unemployment or COVID-19 Spread<i>The new policy wouldn’t have more than a minimal impact on
joblessness in the United States, even if immigration actually determined
employment levels — and it <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/three-reasons-why-immigrants-arent-going-take-job">generally
doesn’t</a>.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout</i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>April 30, 2020</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Late on the evening of April 20, President Trump tweeted
that he was <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1252418369170501639">temporarily
suspending immigration</a> to the United States. For justification he cited
what he called “the attack from the Invisible Enemy” — that is, COVID-19 — and
“the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Government officials had to scramble to make sense of
Trump’s tweet, but by April 22, the White House staff had tacked together a
presidential proclamation for Trump to sign.[...]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Read the full article:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-immigration-suspension-doesnt-prevent-unemployment-or-covid-19-spread/">https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-immigration-suspension-doesnt-prevent-unemployment-or-covid-19-spread/</a>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqNWDj_eviwtEToA5TIlWAIkduqUxdwirq-BpZfbgQ0Q-I3zUNuOGoZmU5sq2AYeVAQqul8EfI4jrDoZO7Voxo0u7KbmdFv74yBRAW3enQbdgHYw-8ME1Vjj6j2l-In2KAz6lTPzY8mk/s1600/TrumpImmigrationSuspension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1200" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqNWDj_eviwtEToA5TIlWAIkduqUxdwirq-BpZfbgQ0Q-I3zUNuOGoZmU5sq2AYeVAQqul8EfI4jrDoZO7Voxo0u7KbmdFv74yBRAW3enQbdgHYw-8ME1Vjj6j2l-In2KAz6lTPzY8mk/s400/TrumpImmigrationSuspension.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Volunteers bring groceries to immigrants on lockdown. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897752651143369077.post-34012209832286484982020-04-12T07:43:00.000-04:002020-04-12T21:34:11.018-04:00Trump Welcomes More Guest Workers Amid Crisis While Rejecting Asylum Seekers<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHk35ch6AUN8bIRLQaNf-u9_wWKowWUoWMYk4iuo1NyQCS2nh8197tmVXbknC5jqfdOR3vQ7lkTvFGnX7xP_yzOmnqrC9LxmeO3dX86Ncw60otuWvs20bCj6r1m-1ADrj1rIObQVXBVW8/s1600/2020_0410-guest-workers-1200x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHk35ch6AUN8bIRLQaNf-u9_wWKowWUoWMYk4iuo1NyQCS2nh8197tmVXbknC5jqfdOR3vQ7lkTvFGnX7xP_yzOmnqrC9LxmeO3dX86Ncw60otuWvs20bCj6r1m-1ADrj1rIObQVXBVW8/s400/2020_0410-guest-workers-1200x801.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Seasonal workers in California. Photo: Davis Turner/Tribune News Service/Getty
Images</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background: #F8F8F8;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: #0a0a0a; font-weight: normal;">This type of
exploitation hurts all U.S. workers, both jobless citizens and underpaid
foreign workers, but the situation is rarely discussed in the media or in
political debates</span></i><span style="color: #0a0a0a; font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></div>
<div style="background: #F8F8F8;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #0a0a0a; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<b>By David L. Wilson, <i>Truthout</i></b></div>
<div>
<b>April 11, 2020</b></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #0a0a0a;">Two recent news items neatly sum up U.S. immigration policy
during the COVID-19 crisis.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #0a0a0a;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0a0a0a; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #0a0a0a;">Asylum seekers are now being </span><b><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-law"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">turned away</span></a></b><span style="color: #0a0a0a;"> at the border without
even a chance to make their asylum claims; the excuse for the new policy is
a </span><b><a href="https://www.nafsa.org/regulatory-information/covid-19-restrictions-us-visas-and-entry"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">March 20 order</span></a></b><span style="color: #0a0a0a;"> from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, officials say the administration
may </span><b><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/trump-immigrant-workers-coronavirus-162177"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">expand the recruitment</span></a></b><span style="color: #0a0a0a;"> of temporary
agricultural workers. The purpose would be “</span><b><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-16/"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">to get enough migrant labor</span></a></b><span style="color: #0a0a0a;"> to keep
the food supply moving” while the crisis drags on.[...]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0a0a0a; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">Read the full article:</span><span style="color: #0a0a0a; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/trump-welcomes-more-guest-workers-amid-crisis-while-rejecting-asylum-seekers/">https://truthout.org/articles/trump-welcomes-more-guest-workers-amid-crisis-while-rejecting-asylum-seekers/</a></div>
The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15143202658318752158noreply@blogger.com0