The above photo depicts the raised razor wire fence above the Rio Grande right across the asylum encampment in Matamoros.
Over 70% Decrease in Southwest Border Encounters
We are now a month into a post Title 42 world, the Covid-19 health regulation used to expel asylum seekers back to Mexico without an opportunity for them to make an asylum claim. During this past month, Border Patrol agents have confirmed the “number of migrant encounters on the Southwest border is down by more than 70 percent”. I have talked to various non governmental organizations in the Rio Grande Valley who have expressed experiencing the same decrease of asylum seekers coming through their organizations.
In a previous blog, I untangled some of the legal policies such as the required use of CBP One for an appointment, and the “new asylum ban” rule, that have been implemented post Title 42. I expressed that these new policies are essentially “legal walls” to asylum. The uncertainty of how these “legal walls” will impact an asylum seeker’s eligibility for asylum has kept many asylum seekers trapped in squalid conditions in Mexico, desperately trying to obtain a CBP One appointment.
Despite the 70 percent decrease of migrant encounters at the Southwest border, and the implementation of policies that further make it more strenuous to access asylum, the state of Texas has continued to legislate and fund for more border enforcement barriers. Similarly, the state of Florida has passed harsh legislation targeting the safety and livelihood of migrants, their families, and communities.
State Government Response: More Physical Barriers
Texas
This year, the Texas legislature approved $5.5 billion for border security measures. Wasting no time at all, Governor Abbott announced in a press conference yesterday, that Texas plans to purchase 1,000 feet of buoys to install in the Rio Grande in the area of Eagle Pass, at a cost of approximately $1 million. In the words of Abbott, “We’re securing the border at the border. What these buoys will allow us to do is prevent people from even getting to the border.” This is in addition to the over $4 billion Texas has spent on Operation Lone Star for the past two years. Texas leadership seems to have no end in sight for how much spending they are willing to take on to continue a strictly border enforcement approach. Ever hear of the ole cliche, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”?
In addition to Texas further using taxpayer hard earned tax dollars to keep funding for physical border barriers, Abbott also signed six Senate immigration related bills. In particular, one that is of high importance for faith based communities is “Senate Bill 1900 designates Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. There are higher penalties for criminal activity by a foreign terrorist under state law.” This bill could potentially have devastating consequences to faith based organizations who assist migrants, but we will have to keep a close eye on how it develops over time.
Florida
Florida’s governor signed Senate Bill 1718 that will take effect July 1, 2023. Among other things, in a nutshell this bill:
“makes it a felony to “knowingly and willfully” transport an undocumented person into the state — including relatives and acquaintances. It also invalidates out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to immigrants who lack legal status and requires private businesses with 25 or more employees to use a federal system known as E-Verify to confirm whether new employees are eligible to work in the U.S.”
This bill seems to have a fear and deterrence based focus targeting the immigrant communities who live and work in the state of Florida. While the bill has not gone into effect yet, it has already had rippling effects. “Many undocumented workers in the agriculture, construction and tourism industries have left the state in anticipation of the law’s going into effect next month.” Ultimately, how this bill plays out in the long run, will be a learning experience for other states to decide whether to pass similar anti-immigrant legislation.
Real Immigration Solutions Needed from Congress
A strictly fear, deterrence, and enforcement based approach to immigration is a non comprehensive approach to a matter that requires innovative and holistic solutions. Immigration matters are not just bound to the border, rather the border is one of many facets of the immigration system that need to be addressed. For example, as of 2023, there is an Immigration Court backlog to the tune of 2,097,244 pending cases. Additionally, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had a “backlog of 8.6 million applications and petitions in September 2022”. Such significant backlogs keep many migrants in a state of limbo and in vulnerable legal status positions for when state laws such as Florida’s Senate Bill 1718 targets them.
These immigration related matters need to be addressed and require the appropriate federal funding to meet such critical needs. State encroachment on federal immigration law that only addresses immigration from an enforcement perspective fails to address immigration issues as a whole. This is why it’s essential that immigration law continue to be reserved under the purview of federal law, so that states do not continue to engage in piecemeal enforcement.
While Texas and Florida continue to focus on massive funding and legislating from a strictly immigration enforcement approach, next week, I will delve into proposed bipartisan immigration legislation from Texas and Florida Congress Representatives.