Southern Border "Migrant Surge" Drama Llama

[lpetrich]

Biden tasks Harris with tackling migrant influx on US-Mexico border - BBC News

US President Joe Biden has put Vice-President Kamala Harris in charge of controlling migration at the southern border following a big influx of new arrivals.

Mr Biden said he was giving her a "tough job" but that she was "the most qualified person to do it".

The numbers of people arriving have grown since Mr Biden took office.

They include hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are being held in immigration detention facilities.

However,
Biden’s immigration policies have not caused a ‘surge’ at the U.S. border with Mexico. Here’s the data. - The Washington Post

The increase in border crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico has generated a lot of attention — and a lot of theories about where this increase is coming from and whether it might be linked to Biden administration policies.

Underappreciated in the developing narrative is just how predictable the rise in border crossings is. We analyzed monthly U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from 2012 through February and found no clear evidence that the overall increase in border crossings in 2021 can be attributed to Biden administration policies. Rather, the current increase fits a pattern of seasonal changes in undocumented immigration combined with a backlog of demand because of 2020s coronavirus border closure.

Joe Biden's border challenge: reversing Trumpism – podcast | News | The Guardian

The 46th US president took office promising a more welcoming immigration policy. But Republicans are calling a new wave of migrants at the southern border a ‘crisis’ and demanding he addresses it

 

[lpetrich]

Seems to me that Republicans are looking for some issue to use against President Biden, some way of putting him on the defensive.

Lawmakers take dueling trips to border amid concerns about migrant surge - CBS News

Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro led dueling delegations of lawmakers to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Friday, amid concerns over the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border.

Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana, who was on the Republican trip, described witnessing an overwhelmed immigration system, overcrowded facilities and a dead body floating in the Rio Grande. His takeaway from conversations with state troopers and the Border Patrol is that the system is overburdened. The U.S. border had a level of immigration that was working previously, he said.

Wringing their hands and wailing "How terrible! How terrible! How terrible!" Something that they never did during the Trump years.

From an Instagram Story appearance recently:
Sawyer Hackett on Twitter: ".@AOC summing up the systemic problems in our immigration system in a minute and a half. (vid link)" / Twitter

Says that it's a result of US meddling in Latin America and that CO2-induced climate change will only provoke more refugees, since the poorer people of the world are much more affected by droughts and wildfires and the like.


In NY-14 Virtual Town Hall with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - YouTube she addressed the "surge" issue.

AOC: Calling Migrants Coming to US a 'Surge' Invokes White Supremacist Ideas

• AOC said talking about migrants at the US-Mexico border as a "surge" pushes a white supremacist idea.
• "It's not a border crisis. It's an imperialism crisis, it's a climate crisis, it's a trade crisis," she said.
• A rise in migrants and children crossing the border is a challenge for the Biden administration.

"Surge" seems innocuous to me, but to her, it seems like implying an invasion.

 

[lpetrich]

I think that AOC is correct about how weepy right-wingers have gotten about detention-center conditions under President Biden.

Kyle Griffin on Twitter: ".@AOC on the border: "Anyone who's using the word 'surge' around you, consciously, is trying to invoke a militaristic frame. And that's a problem. Because this is not a surge, these are children. And they are not insurgents. And we are not being invaded." (link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "A lot of people ..." / Twitter

A lot of people who are just now suddenly horrified at the dehumanizing conditions at our border are the same folks who dehumanize immigrants + helped build these cages in the 1st place.

When we tried to stop this infrastructure over a year ago,we were overruled by BOTH parties.

A politician’s strength isn’t based on a trip. It’s based on their policy and voting RECORD.

And the fact is a LOT of Ted Cruz types who are now going down to meet refugee children in boats outfitted w/ machine guns are the ones who helped create this problem in the first place.

For all those who are brand new to this & only care about cages on a partisan basis, catch up: we‘ve been fighting our own party on immigration for a long time.

This is the result of Congress endlessly dumping money into CBP/ICE cages vs humane policy

For all the new tears GOP have about the border, what are their policy solutions? A Muslim ban, racist policy, shutting down the border, & more cages.

If you don’t want children in cages, then you need to stop upholding CBP, ICE, and the military as the solution to this crisis.

Politicians and pundits who are pretending to care about the border now but have continuously voted to expand these cages can sit down.

You might be new to this, but we’re true to this.

Short-term issue is facilities. Long-term issue is destabilization that’s driving migration.

Fact is a lot of the politicians crying right now don’t work to solve either.

They vote to grow ICE + CBP cages and they do everything to avoid addressing the root: US foreign policy and interventionism that destabilizes regions, the climate crisis, and unjust economic policy.

So do we do?

If facilities are your #1 concern, short term we need to shift Congress’ knee-jerk addiction to funding carceral facilities (ICE/CBP) to expansion of ORR (office of refugee resettlement) and HHS (health and human services).

But that’s not a long term solution.

In the long term, we need to address US immigration policy that drives parents to make the devastating choice to send their child alone to flee violence bc together they have less of a shot. Lots more. Also foreign policy, climate, etc.

 

[lpetrich]

It's not just talk. One of AOC's friends in Congress proposes something to do about that:

Jayapal Leads Members of Congress in Introducing the Roadmap to Freedom Resolution as a Visionary North Star for Immigration Reform - Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

WASHINGTON — Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Judy Chu (CA-27) and Yvette Clarke (NY-09) introduced the Roadmap to Freedom Resolution today. This north star for immigration reform was drafted alongside FIRM Action — the nation’s largest immigrant rights network — and is a progressive vision to transform the immigration system to one that is focused on dignity and rooted in the needs and lives of impacted people.

This immigration reform proposal develops and implements a Roadmap to Freedom by promoting citizenship, protecting and strengthening a fair process centered on family unity, promoting and preserving diversity and establishing a just, humane immigration system. Additionally, it ensures federal immigration agencies are fair and accountable, establishes a humane and effective border policy, recognizes the value of all work and promotes healthy communities. The resolution also promotes social, civil and economic integration while modernizing and strengthening humanitarian pathways to the United States. The resolution addresses root causes of migration as well.

H.Res.64 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Roadmap to Freedom in order to overhaul the outdated immigration system in the United States that has gone without significant reform for decades, and to relieve the great human impact an unjust system bears on communities around the country. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Good luck with that. The Republicans won't like being deprived of one of their favorite issues, and getting all the Democratic Senators to agree may be difficult.

 

[lpetrich]

Introduced by Pramila Jayapal herself, this resolution now has 50 cosponsors, including 38 original ones.

Ted Cruz responded to AOC:
Ted Cruz on Twitter: ".@AOC explains the real Dem position ..." / Twitter

@AOC explains the real Dem position: abolish ICE.

Full open borders. Which would make the #BidenBorderCrisis even worse.

She says nothing else works.

Really?

Last year, we had the lowest illegal immigration IN 45 YEARS.

This year, we have the highest in 20 years.

Then,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Ted, this is pretty rich ..." / Twitter

Ted, this is pretty rich coming from someone who fled their own home (and responsibilities) during an environmental crisis to cross the border and seek refuge in Mexico.

Also you funded cages, expanded cages, and yet you’re complaining about cages. You have no policy, just puff.

Maybe Mexico shouldn’t let YOU in the next time you try to run away from your job to sip umbrella drinks in Cancún.

A reminder that your resignation is 84 days past due. At least.

The Cut on Twitter: "“It’s a result of the fact that we have built our immigration system on the same scaffolding of our incarceration system, and neither are just,” says @AOC https://t.co/tOc2rpbBPo" / Twitter
noting
AOC Decries ‘Horrifying’ Conditions at the Border at The Cut

New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent much of her virtual town hall last night criticizing the “completely inhumane and unacceptable, horrifying conditions” at the U.S.-Mexico border, taking both political parties to task for a crisis with many long-standing roots and systemic failures. Currently being detained by Customs and Border Protection are 5,767 children, the highest number ever since the department began recording. And there are a staggering 17,650 children in the custody of the federal government overall, including shelter facilities and other housing.


The Biden administration is struggling to process unaccompanied minors who have been picked up by Border Patrol fast enough, leaving many of them in the stark, abusive conditions of the detention centers that became notorious during Trump’s family-separation policy: ice-cold cells with chained fences, with children using Mylar blankets and lacking adequate nutrition and hygiene.

Good that she's holding the Biden Admin's feet to the fire.

It must be conceded that AOC is on the horns of a dilemma. If she criticizes the Biden Admin, she's divisive, but if she doesn't, she's hypocritical.

 

[lpetrich]

The New York Times on Twitter: "Breaking News: The Biden administration will keep its cap on refugee admissions at the low level set by the Trump White House, walking back an earlier pledge. (link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Completely and utterly unacceptable. Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on that promise.

Upholding the xenophobic and racist policies of the Trump admin, incl the historically low + plummeted refugee cap, is flat out wrong.

Keep your promise." / Twitter

Soon followed by
After outcry, WH says Biden will lift refugee cap in May
then
The Associated Press on Twitter: "BREAKING: After blowback from allies, White House says President Biden will move to lift Trump-era refugee caps next month. (link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "This is a testament to the power that people’s movements, community advocates, & progressive coalitions have built.

Thankful for that and the Biden admin’s decision to respond to organizers today.

Now let’s get these families to their new homes here in the United States. " / Twitter
She recognizes what she comes out of: activism.

 

[repoman]

All of this during a pandemic, what a fucking joke.