When a person crosses the U.S. southern border illegally, their main reasons for crossing can range from fleeing from their dangerous country to seeking opportunities for a better life. It is an incredibly difficult and strenuous journey for every person that tries to cross, but the outcome is different depending on whether they get caught by border patrol or not. If they do end up getting caught they could be sent to immigration detention centers where the situation isn’t any better than having to cross the border. But what exactly is going on? Authors: Cristell Bacilio & Sadie HonchockRead Time: 5-8 MinsWhat is going on at the United States-Mexico border?In 2014, the United States declared a crisis at the US-Mexico border as a result of increasing numbers of unaccompanied children migrating through border checkpoints. Between 2000 and 2016, illegal economic migration of Mexicans into the US decreased by ninety percent. Mexican migrants have since been replaced by migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. These three nations have been negatively affected by the United States’s investments in violent regimes in the 1980s, creating an atmosphere of brutality that lives on in the modern era, which has pushed those seeking refuge to the United States. The US Supreme Court’s ruling in September 2019, permitted the Trump Administration to curtail asylum applications at the border, requiring asylum seekers to have proof that they had sought out asylum in another “third country”. This ruling, among other legislative decisions by both the Obama and Trump Administration, has resulted in an increasing number of migrants being placed in detention centers on the border in horrendous conditions. Over the years, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has built up a reputation for being brutal and inhumane towards migrants in detention centers, with good reason. There have been many reports citing the abhorrent conditions migrants are kept in. They are made to sleep on concrete floors in overcrowded cages, usually with nothing more than aluminum blankets to be used for warmth. These conditions make migrants prone to falling ill or getting injured, despite this, they rarely receive medical care. When they are put into custody, families are generally separated from each other, making the experience deeply traumatizing for all involved, but particularly children. There have also been reports of ICE officers physically, verbally, and sexually abusing detainees. In 2018 ICE, reported to Congress that it had lost track of 1,475 unaccompanied minors that had migrated to the United States for a plethora of reasons, further contributing to public outrage towards ICE’s treatment of migrants. Between May 2018 and May 2020, it has been reported that twenty-seven people have died in the custody of Customs and Border Protection and concerns regarding the unsanitary and crowded quarters in detention centers reported by detainees, legislators, and journalists have been voiced, especially in the light of the COVID-19 crisis. How long has the issue been Ongoing?The crisis at the border was declared in 2014 by the United States government when there was an increase in the number of unaccompanied children and women mostly from Mexico and Central America crossing the border. In 2019, there was large media exposure to the harsh and unsanitary conditions of the ICE detention facilities in the U.S., bringing more awareness to the crisis going on at the border. Since 2014 till now, there have been many events that has made the public more aware of the humanitarian crisis that is occurring at the US-Mexico border, such as:
Policy recommendationsThe mistreatment of migrants in detention centers by ICE workers and in general, along with the horrid conditions of these facilities are issues that have been going on for years but attention has barely been brought to it until last year. The public was made aware of the issues happening at the border and how migrants were affected, so they demanded for change. 1) Reform the System Many are pushing to abolish ICE because of their targeting of undocumented immigrants and the documented cases of mistreatment and abuse towards these immigrants. Dismantling ICE is one of many different ways that the United States can approach the humanitarian crisis at the border but it’s easier said than done, especially since ICE has valuable functions beyond its abysmal handling of the immigration crisis. As such, the real priority is to restructure the system by either developing an entirely new immigration system that helps instead of harms undocumented immigrants at the border or by reforming ICE through changing how they carry out their actions and holding officers accountable. 2) Addressing Health Outcomes There should be policies put in place that protect the people being held in the detention facilities and aim for little to no separation of families so children aren’t held by themselves, unable to properly be taken care of. ICE staff and other people working at the detention facilities should be held accountable if there are reports of abuse, mistreatment, or medical neglect towards immigrants. Additionally, ICE should work towards mitigating the spread of disease. In fact, reports cite that thousands of detainees have been recorded as having influenza and chickenpox. Concurrently, the distribution of vaccines for such preventable illnesses in these centers are non-existent, and even worse, detainees are kept in highly dense areas with poor to no sanitation practices. That’s exactly why in a heartbreaking interview, a 17-year-old from Guatemala stated, “When I got here … I was completely well and have no medical problems. I do have my immunizations. I didn’t get sick until I got here, but I was next to someone who was sick, and the next day, I got sick, too.” In the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of detainees in several facilities have been tested positive for COVID-19, and even faculty are prone to contracting the disease, allowing for further spread in those states. 3) Quickening the Handling of Undocumented Immigrants The legal process of handling immigration cases from people held in detention centers should be clear and quick for them to go through. The backlog of cases should be prevented through increasing the number of judges, immigration courts, and implementing policies so people don’t have to spend months in the detention centers waiting to go to court. Expanded access to legal counsel is a necessity, especially for minors who have had to represent themselves in front of judges in the past but couldn’t do so to the fullest extent because of lack of knowledge and understanding of the situation. Additionally, the federal government and state governments on the border should focus on determining the actual dangers posed by various immigrants and should thus evaluate whether or not to quickly release the detained based on if they are dangerous or not. 4) Work with neighboring countries in Latin America and Elsewhere Instead of utilizing a unilateral approach to deal with the border crisis, the government at both levels (federal and state) should coordinate with neighboring countries to not only host operations to prevent individuals from crossing, but to also educate these individuals on entering the United States in a responsible manner: through applying. By educating those that seek to enter the country and driving a mindset that emphasizes entering correctly over simply entering, the crisis could be less pervasive across the border. Additionally, beyond just educating these individuals, the US should actively work with foreign nations to understand the causes of emigration and possibly attack the crisis at its root than at its branches. Final NoteWe need to put a stop to the abuse and unfairness towards undocumented immigrants at the border as they deserve to be treated better. While the aforementioned policy recommendations are described in brevity, contacting legislators and encouraging them to take action on these simple concepts can ensure that the US continues to be a symbol of freedom. In sum, the journey of crossing the border is hard enough as it is and we should take time to try to understand immigrants’ reasons for doing so, so that we can eventually end this crisis. References
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