Biden in a bind on the border: 'The politics finally got the better of their policy'
"Putting the U.S.-Mexico ‘border crisis’ narrative into context [...]
It may seem ironic, but even as it carried out the cruelest anti-migration policies in decades, the Trump administration presided over the largest flows of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border since the mid-2000s.
This continued through Donald Trump’s last months in office, which saw migration rise sharply even as stringent pandemic measures made the pursuit of asylum impossible. This shows the futility of declaring war on asylum, and the inevitability of large migration flows at a time of overlapping security, economic, political, public health, and climate crises. P - The jump in migration of Trump’s final months continued accelerating during Joe Biden’s first two months in office. This is happening even as Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) keeps in place “Title 42 .. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-03-26/pdf/2020-06327.pdf ,” a probably illegal Trump-era pandemic provision that expels most migrants within hours, regardless of their protection needs. Is there a “crisis” of people attempting to cross the border? The increased numbers of people crossing the border right now is something that border experts have predicted .. https://www.wola.org/analysis/5-regional-migration-strategies-covid-19-united-states/ .. for some time now. The roots of what is happening are in the Trump administration policies that caused massive numbers of people to be stuck on the Mexican side of the border—policies like “Remain in Mexico” (which forced over 70,000 asylum seekers to wait for their U.S. court dates in Mexico border cities) and “metering,” a practice under which U.S. border authorities place severe limits on who is allowed to approach ports of entry and ask for asylum, in violation of U.S. and international law."
After promising to "undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration," Biden is finding it easier said than done.
VIDEO - 24:27
Sept. 27, 2021, 6:30 PM AEST
By Alex Seitz-Wald
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts, called the Border Patrol “egregious and white supremacist.” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said it was “worse than what we witnessed in slavery.”
The pair spent years targeting similar criticism at former President Donald Trump for his handling of the border. But this time, they were talking about fellow Democrat President Joe Biden's administration, which continues to deport Haitian migrants and others seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border under a controversial Trump-era public health order.
Trump polarized the politics of immigration in a way that makes Biden’s border bind uniquely difficult. For many in Biden's base, any kind of immigration enforcement action can smack of Trumpism. And for many Republicans, any attempt at reform is tantamount to giving away the country.
Biden is stuck between immigration advocates in his own party on one side and Republicans, who insist he’s still not doing enough to control the border, on the other, leaving the White House politically isolated and with no clear refuge.
“President Biden needs to show moral clarity in this moment,” said Julián Castro, the former Obama Cabinet member and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. “If he doesn’t, the coalition that elected him will collapse.”
There were no snakes and alligators, as Trump reportedly wanted .. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html .. on the U.S.-Mexico border. But the images of Border Patrol agents on horseback chasing Haitian asylum-seekers attempting to cross the Rio Grande has many of Biden’s allies comparing him to his predecessor and questioning his commitment to the larger reform project.
The administration has attempted to distance itself from actions taking place under its oversight.
And Republicans are still insisting Biden is promoting “uncontrolled illegal immigration into the country,” as Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said during a hearing with Mayorkas.
VIDEO - DHS Secy. Mayorkas 'horrified' by images of border patrol confronting Haitian migrants Sept. 22, 2021 01:30
For some, like Frank Sharry, the longtime head of the immigration advocacy group America's Voice, it’s all too familiar to see a Democrat have their dreams — and backbone — crushed by a media firestorm over an immigration flashpoint.
“I’ve been in this debate for 40 years, and it feels like groundhog,” Sharry said, noting every president for decades has dealt with surges of Haitian and Central American migrants.
Back in March, when a different surge of migrants was in the news, many of the questions at Biden’s first news conference were about the border. The new president stood by his plan for a regional approach to stem the flow of migrants, fix the asylum system and “undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration.”
But since then, Biden has faced one challenge after another, from the pandemic to the pullout of Afghanistan, with his poll numbers declining along with the prospects for his domestic legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, leaving little political capital left for a fight on one of the most divisive issues in the country.
“The politics finally got the better of their policy vision,” Sharry said. “In my view, they held their nerve. And in the last week, they choked.”
'The American promise'
Biden is now in a position similar to one faced by his predecessor and former running mate, Barack Obama, who got elected by positioning himself to the left of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary but ended up getting labeled “deporter in chief .. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/deporter-chief-label-ups-pressure-action-obama-n45346 ” for deporting more migrants than previous presidents.
With so much on Biden’s plate, it was always going to be a long shot for him to succeed where so many prior presidents have failed.
Republicans and moderate Democrats in Congress have shown zero appetite for taking up Biden’s comprehensive proposals, and no one thinks a major immigration reform package would get through this Congress.
And Biden inherited a bureaucracy gutted and rebuilt by Trump and his former aides like immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller, who sought to change both the policies and culture of the agencies that now report to Biden, still just about eight months into his term.
“Our objective is not to keep the policy as it is, which is broken, which is not workable long term,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday, adding that the president wants "a new immigration policy that is humane, that is orderly, that does have robust asylum processing.”
Still, immigration advocates note that Biden’s administration has continued to deport migrants under what is known as Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allows the government to skirt rights typically granted to asylum-seekers and fast-track their deportations.
Civil rights leaders met with Biden on Thursday to demand an end to deportations under Title 42, which NAACP President Derrick Johnson said "makes a mockery of the American promise" by removing migrants before they even have a chance to seek asylum.
"Let’s be crystal clear: Asylum-seekers are not illegal," Nana Gyamfi, the executive director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration, said after leaving the White House meeting. "It is a violation of international law to send asylum-seekers back to the country they are fleeing."
As Migrants Surge Toward Border, Court Hands Biden a Lifeline
"Putting the U.S.-Mexico ‘border crisis’ narrative into context"
Desperate to control the unrelenting buildup on the border, Biden administration officials turn their focus to deterring migration, dashing hopes of asylum seekers.
Migrants, mostly from Central America and Haiti, waiting on the International Bridge last month in Matamoros, Mexico, to enter the United States to request asylum.
By Natalie Kitroeff
Photographs by Daniele Volpe Published Sept. 6, 2021Updated Sept. 20, 2021
Before that ruling, Mr. Biden’s steps to begin loosening the reins on migration had been quickly followed by a surge of people heading north, overwhelming the southwest border of the United States. Apprehensions of migrants hit a two-decade high in July .. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/us/migrants-border-patrol-southwest.html , a trend officials fear will continue into the fall.
Concern had already been building inside the Biden administration that the speed of its immigration changes may have encouraged migrants .. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/us/delrio-texas-migrants-crisis.html .. to stream toward the United States, current and former officials said.
In fact, some Biden officials were already talking about reviving Mr. Trump’s policy in a limited way to deter migration, said the officials, who have worked on immigration policy .. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/us/politics/us-immigrants-covid-vaccine-requirement.html .. but were not authorized to speak publicly about the administration’s internal debates on the issue. Then the Supreme Court order came, providing the Biden administration with the political cover to adopt the policy in some form without provoking as much ire from Democrats who reviled Mr. Trump’s border policies.
Now, the officials say, they have an opportunity to take a step back, come up with a more humane version of Mr. Trump’s policy and, they hope, reduce the enormous number of people arriving at the border.
Border Patrol agents checking the documents of migrants trying to cross into Brownsville, Tex., from Matamoros, Mexico, to seek asylum.
“This desire to reverse Trump’s policies and to do so quickly has landed the Biden administration in this predicament, which was not unpredictable and is very sad to watch,” said Alan Bersin, who served as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under President Barack Obama.
The policy at the center of the case — commonly known as Remain in Mexico — quickly became one of the most contentious elements of Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda because it upended central provisions of the nation’s asylum system. Instead of allowing migrants to enter the United States while the courts assessed their claims, it made thousands of asylum seekers wait in squalid encampments in Mexico rife with reports of kidnappings, extortion and other serious abuses.
After Mr. Biden suspended the policy, Texas and Missouri sued the administration, arguing that the influx of people “imposed severe and ongoing burdens” on the states. The Supreme Court refused to block a lower court’s ruling that required the restoration of the program, forcing the Biden administration to comply with it while the appeals process unfolds.
Migrants sheltering at a church in Matamoros.
But the ambivalence within corners of the Biden administration reflects a broader worry: that the border crisis could have electoral repercussions for the Democrats, potentially dooming hopes of pushing through a more significant overhaul of the nation’s migration and asylum systems.
“They are backed into a corner on their broader immigration agenda,” Doris Meissner, the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1993 to 2000, said of the Biden administration. “The only tools that are available in the near term are pretty much pure enforcement.”
As migrants surged to the border, Republicans attacked the new administration on multiple fronts, forcing the president to retreat from key campaign promises and angering some in his base.
Migrants lining up for health services in Matamoros.
While the administration tried to change the welcoming tone it set early on, dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris to Guatemala to proclaim the border closed in June, migrants and smugglers say the encouraging signals sent at the outset of Mr. Biden’s term are all anyone remembers.
“‘We heard the news that the U.S. opened the borders,’” said Abraham Barberi, a pastor in the border city of Matamoros, recounting what migrants routinely tell him. So many came to town that Mr. Barberi turned his church .. https://www.facebook.com/InstitutoBiblicoBautistaSolaScriptura/ .. into a migrant shelter soon after Mr. Biden came to office, as mothers and their toddlers started showing up at his door.
Abraham Barberi, a pastor, with migrants outside his church in Matamoros, which has become a shelter for migrants.
“The Biden administration said, ‘We’re going to let people in,’” Mr. Barberi said, zigzagging between the thin mattresses that now cover the church floors. “That’s when everyone flooded.”
Thousands of asylum seekers were gradually let into the United States after Mr. Biden ended the Trump policy of forcing them to wait in Mexico, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University .. https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/650/ , which tracks migration data. But almost immediately, Mr. Barberi said, a gusher of new migrants showed up.
So Mr. Barberi crammed dozens of bunk beds into Bible school classrooms and filled shelves with diapers, baby formula and medicine. If the Remain in Mexico policy does return, Mr. Barberi said, “we’re going to have a lot of people stuck here.”
Migrants at Mr. Barberi’s church in Matamoros.
Among them is Marilin Lopéz, who fled Honduras with her son in 2019 after facing constant death threats. When she got to Mexico, she said, a trafficker handed her to armed men who held her hostage for months. After coming up with the ransom and finally making it to the border, she said, she ran into two of her kidnappers in Matamoros and went into hiding, leaving her unable to show up for some of her asylum appointments.
Under Mr. Trump, the United States granted asylum to less than 2 percent of all applicants under the Remain in Mexico policy, according to the Syracuse University clearinghouse. Most of the people who were denied asylum missed court dates, like Ms. Lopéz, who was too terrified to walk around in Matamoros, a city the State Department warns Americans against visiting because of “crime and kidnapping.”
In late August, after the Biden administration said it would reopen some of those cases, Ms. Lopéz applied to make her claim for protection one more time.
Days later, Ms. Lopéz received a text message from United Nations representatives assisting her petition: All cases were on pause while they awaited clarity after the Supreme Court decision.
“They killed all our hope,” Ms. Lopéz said. “The Biden government promised many things, and now we feel tricked.”
It is not yet clear exactly how the Biden administration will respond to the Supreme Court’s ruling, though officials in the United States and in Mexico say discussions about implementing a new version of Remain in Mexico have already begun.
The dining room in Mr. Barberi’s church.
Roberto Velasco, the Mexican Foreign Ministry’s chief officer for North America, said in a statement that the Supreme Court would not dictate Mexico’s migration policy, “which is determined and executed with sovereignty.”
Mexico recently proposed forming a working group with the United States, Mr. Velasco said, “to manage the extraordinary flows that both countries are seeing.” He said Mexico would oppose any move to reopen encampments along the border — a move that would be politically challenging in the United States as well. When Dr. Jill Biden toured the Matamoros camp in 2019, she described it as heartbreaking.
“I’ve witnessed the pain of refugees around the world, but seeing it at our own border felt like a betrayal,” Dr. Biden said in a Twitter .. https://twitter.com/DrBiden/status/1209587215938019328?s=20 .. post after the visit, adding, “This cruelty is not who we are.”
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