NEW YEAR, SAME IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS

and Democrats whose promises have withered on the vine, despite claiming to be on the side of immigrants.

It’s an undeniable reality of immigration that thousands of human beings hold out the expectation that something in their favor will happen, for the first time in a long time. But politicking has taken over the entire national scene, so much so that it has ended up displacing even the most minimum compassion and U.S. moral sense.

Because if anything was clear in the three-ring circus that was the election of California Republican Kevin Mccarthy to be Speaker of the House, it’s that Republican extremism will dominate in that legislative body, at least for the next two years. It’s fantasy, therefore, to think that the body could advance real immigration reform that tackles all of the problems the system has accumulated, in the thirty-six years since the 1986 amnesty was enacted by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

That is, after almost four decades of vain attempts, it seems to be time to accept that what the rest of the world is witnessing is that the United States is not capable of resolving the migration question at this moment; a country that traditionally solves problems for other people, for better or for worse. In the face of this scenario, all hope loses meaning, even in the discourse where migrants are beseeched to “resist,” which they have done.

For example, Biden finally went to the southern border, a topic he should already know inside and out since he was the vice-president to Barack Obama, who promised an immigration reform that never materialized.

However, it would have been even more real and convincing for the leader to see first-hand the human drama that thousands of migrants who fill the streets of El Paso and other border cities are living, with the hope of applying for asylum. Biden, it’s true, has taken measures to reduce unauthorized immigration at the border, issuing 30,000 “parole” entries per month to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, so that they can apply from their countries of origin and come to the United States with authorization to seek asylum, as long as they come on a plane, have a sponsor, and pass the background check.

But those who present themselves at the border or attempt to cross without authorization will be expelled under the authority of Title 42, a program originally tied to public health, which has been revived and applied since one of the most anti-immigrant administrations of our time, that of Donald Trump.

The Biden administration has been criticized for maintaining the policies of its predecessor, like the aforementioned Title 42, and has been put on the defensive, indicating that it is simply implementing what has been ordered by the courts. But that is a legal explanation that leaves aside the human element. Moreover, applying a discriminatory policy that, in reality, is trying to undermine asylum laws, because a court allegedly orders it, does not erase the damage that said policy has caused to thousands of refugees.

Moreover, it never stops being surprising that a nation as rich and powerful as the United States does not designate enough resources to deal with the flow of migrants at the border in a more orderly, humane, and healthy manner. If it has billions of dollars to send to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, one would think it could handle the arrival of thousands at its borders in a more dignified way.

But Democrats must go beyond criticizing Republicans and demonstrating their indignation, because for both sides of this equation, that song is over. (America’s Voice)