Helping Mexican migrants must be top priority for Biden administration
After -an. 0, the Biden administra tion and the Democratic Congress will face urgent calls to act on several fronts. )ew issues will require more immediate action than immigration. The deterrence of immigration through cruelty was per haps President Donald Trump’s single most successful set of policies. )or four years, Trump put in place hundreds of draconian measures to dissuade immi gration to the United 6tates, persecut ing undocumented families and young dreamers” and abusing the rights of thousands seeking asylum.
President elect -oe Biden is under pressure to deliver on his promise to dismantle Trump’s nativist machinery in earnest. On )riday, he said he would introduce an immigration bill imme diately” upon taking office. This is the right thing to do. (ven if, given the Democrats’ slim 6enate maMority, com prehensive immigration reform remains unlikely, Biden should still send a bill to Congress in the first 100 days of his presidency as a matter of principle. He would be planting a flag on the moun tain top, telling the country that this is where we are heading, and it’s only a matter of when,” immigration activist )rank 6harry told me.
(ven if a more ambitious agenda proves elusive, Biden will have sever al options to undo the damage Trump wrought on immigration. Unwinding executive orders and DH6 operating procedures should be quick and rela tively easy,” 6harry told me, referring to the Department of Homeland 6ecurity. Biden could halt deportations and es tablish priorities solely on public safety considerations, free]e the construction of the border wall and reduce incarcer ation of immigrants with an emphasis on reuniting hundreds of children who have been separated from their parents.
And, if the new president’s goal is to alleviate the pain of thousands of immigrants, he should aim to reset the relationship with Mexico, a country Trump extorted into becoming an active immigration enforcement partner and the recipient of thousands of potential refugees, now stranded there while they wait for asylum under the controversial Remain in Mexico” scheme. It has be come a humanitarian disaster. A recent Human Rights :atch report details the list of appalling crimes – including ab duction, extortion and sexual assault – immigrants suffer in Mexico.
According to Maureen Meyer, vice president for programs at the :ashing ton Office on Latin America, a leading research and human rights organi]a tion, the program has exposed 0,000 asylum seekers to unnecessary risk and dangers in Mexico.” The Mexican gov ernment’s severe austerity measures it cut federal funding for many migrant shelters have made matters worse. The government of President Andrps Manu el Lype] Obrador, Meyer told me, has failed miserably in providing this pop ulation with humanitarian protection, public services, access to housing or any measure of safety.”
Biden should end the program and work with Mexico to reverse its perni cious consequences.
To wind down the program for good, the new administration will have to ramp up processing capacity at the bor der, developing the infrastructure and manpower needed to provide back ground checks and expeditiously pro cess the necessary paperwork to begin asylum requests. It could then place possible refugees in a humane alterna tive to detention facilities. These im provements will not be immediate. The Biden administration could also fun damentally improve the lives of about ,000 refugees who have already been processed and are waiting in Mexico or their countries of origin.
There is another path the new admin istration could take to improve the lives of the thousands waiting for asylum in
Mexico and the thousands more that, perhaps inevitably, will make their way toward the northern border in the coming months. Under Lype] Obrador, Mexico remains unprepared to process and pro tect immigrants. The Mexican Commis sion for Refugee Assistance COMAR , the agency in charge of refugees, has a minuscule yearly budget of Must under million to help tens of thousands of im migrants and hundreds of thousands of displaced Mexicans. Mark Manly, who heads operations for the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, in Mex ico, told me that COMAR still mostly depends on the UNHCR’s financial and technical support.”
The country’s shelter infrastructure fares worse. In a decision that dismayed many in charge of migrant shelters, the government cut federal funding for fa cilities that are crucial on both borders. )orced to operate with large budgetary gaps, shelters are at capacity, also rely ing on the assistance from the UNHCR. This has forced thousands of immi grants onto the streets. The stories of abuse, torture and sexual slavery are horrifying. :OLA suggests Mexico and the United 6tates should work to gether to invest in the country’s infra structure. The United 6tates could take a proactive role, directly investing in COMAR, supporting the civil soci ety organi]ations that run shelters and, crucially, demanding the Mexican gov ernment improve its dismal treatment of immigrants through, among other things, investment in a modern network of sanctuaries that offer basic services and safety.
There is one problem This requires the active partnership of the Mexican government. )or Meyer, the Lype] Ob rador administration is unlikely to agree to the construction or refurbishment of migrant shelters. The Mexican gov ernment is reluctant to set up huge in frastructure at the border because that leads to a sense of permanency,” Meyer told me.