RETHINK HOW WE FRAME THIS SEASONAL INCREASE

After reading the headlines about the border “crisis” and migrant “surge,” one would think that our southern border is being overrun by a swarm of zombie locusts ready to decimate our country’s crops, rather than a few thousand flesh and blood human beings who have been forced to make heartwrenching choices due to our government’s current and previous policies. It is this disconnect that fuels harsh, ineffective deterrence policies rather than the humanitarian approach to immigration that Joe Biden campaigned on and that is so desperately needed.

The truth is, the numbers we are seeing are not new — every spring, we see an uptick in border crossings, and the increase we have seen in 2021 isn’t particularly notable historically. Whether or not this seasonal increase is framed as a “surge” or a “crisis” depends on the politics of the moment, but a “crisis” framing negates the human

Donohoe is managing attorney at Al Otro Lado, and lives in San Diego. Pinheiro is litigation director, at Al Otro Lado, and lives in Tijuana. stories behind the numbers.

This year, the number of unaccompanied minors is higher than normal because, since March of 2020, the Trump administration expelled refugees instead of allowing them access to the U.S. asylum system. In November, a court order ended expulsions of unaccompanied children, and their numbers at the border have been increasing ever since. Although we know now that then-president Donald Trump ordered the expulsion of refugees for political rather than public health reasons, President Joe Biden has retained the policy, known as Title 42, and continues to apply it to families and single adults.

In Tijuana, we are witnessing at least 100 expulsions a day, including families with very small children who crossed the border hundreds of miles away and were then flown to San Diego to be expelled to Tijuana. Should Biden succeed in his goal to get Mexico to take more families, these numbers will only increase. When these families are expelled to Tijuana and other dangerous border cities, they face enormous challenges in accessing safe shelter, food and vital medical care. Parents are left with no choice but to send their children

to cross alone.

The Biden administration has repeatedly told refugees that the “border is closed,” but has left open the possibility of humanitarian parole for those who are especially vulnerable. However, parole is discretionary and inconsistent, and often fails to recognize the dire needs of children struggling to survive. Al Otro Lado is a binational legal organization with a heavy presence at the border. We recently tried to obtain parole for four siblings whose father is in the United States with a legal status and whose mother and other sibling are missing in their home country, Nicaragua. Customs and Border Protection denied parole because two of the siblings are no longer minors, having spent more than a year at squalid camps waiting to be admitted. If paroled, all four could have gone directly to live with their father. Now they are faced with a difficult choice: remain together in danger, or send their younger siblings to cross alone. Once admitted, the minors would be held in overcrowded, grossly inadequate CBP processing centers, then sent to a government-run shelter, before being released to their father weeks later. There is no child-welfare justification for such a policy.

Federal law requires that we offer refugees access to protection. Biden’s summary expulsions are a flagrant violation of those laws and represent a continuation — not only of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies — but of this country’s bipartisan, decadeslong effort to deter, rather than welcome, those who seek safety at our southern border. To fulfill his campaign promise of humane immigration policies, Biden must immediately end the application of Title 42 to refugees. Using public health as a pretext to expel vulnerable refugees is especially galling given that almost half a million travelers cross our land borders every single day, with no COVID-19 screening.

As to the current border numbers, they come as no surprise. We have had equal or higher numbers in the past and know to expect the same in the future. We can continue to label migrating human beings as a crisis or we can finally admit it is a pattern and be prepared to welcome them in a humanitarian way. We have until next spring to work it out.