2024 is here and the immigration world on every level continues to be non-stop. Here are some key updates to get you caught up and to remind you to stay–unidos sin miedo– in faith and in community together, we will get through this tumultuous year ahead of us.
LOCAL: RIO GRANDE VALLEY
First, over the holidays in the Valley, non-governmental organizations like Team Brownsville did not take a day off. They continued to provide essential toiletries, clothing, and food to asylum seekers, including being tasked with making over 2,000 sandwiches. In fact, as the temperature gets colder, Team Brownsville will be in need of blankets and winter clothing. You can donate or share their Amazon wish list as you desire.
Moreover, Team Brownville is uplifting a GoFundMe for an asylum seeker survivor of the hateful intentional crash in Brownsville that killed 8 asylum seekers from Venezuela this past May. This survivor lost his leg and is finally on his way to recovering and becoming independent. Please read his story, donate and/or share.
Another local update, in the past few weeks there have been Russian asylum seekers stationed at the Progreso International Bridge waiting to be processed by immigration officials. The Progreso port of entry leads to a tourist area full of shops, restaurants, dentists, pharmacies, and medical providers. Seeing asylum seeking families and people from Russia at this mainly tourist bridge is new although not new for other international bridges like in Brownsville and McAllen. While waiting at bridges asylum seekers endure the harsh weather conditions, lack of restrooms, lack of food and water.
Finally, in December Mexico reignited their “repatriation flights” to Venezuela. The first two of these deportation flights took place on December 29 and 30. This has left many asylum seekers waiting for CBP One appointments in Mexico afraid of Mexican immigration officials deporting them.
STATE: TEXAS BILLS AND PENDING LITIGATION
After a grueling long legislative year with four special sessions, in December Governor Abbott signed several dangerous and likely, unconstitutional anti-immigrant bills. They are expected to become effective this February and March. SB3 provides $1.5 billion for more border wall construction. The most controversial SB4, creates a state crime of “illegal entry” and allows any peace officer anywhere throughout Texas to arrest anyone they suspect of having entered from outside a port of entry. Furthermore, this law allows a state magistrate to order a person deported.
The U.S. Justice Department has finally filed a suit against Texas. “SB 4 is clearly unconstitutional,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. In addition, advocacy groups such as the ACLU and Texas Civil Rights Project also filed litigation against SB4. While litigation remains pending, efforts to empower, educate, and inform the community of their rights is of the essence. As such, stay tuned for our future educational webinars on SB4.
FEDERAL: ONGOING NEGOTIATIONS, NO SOLUTIONS
First and foremost, Congress has failed to pass any meaningful immigration reform legislation. In fact, for months now, Republican Senators have held hostage aid to Ukraine in exchange for restrictions to immigration such as asylum and parole. Ongoing negotiations behind closed doors continue. This week, “demonstrators from dozens of advocacy groups gathered near the US Capitol for a “Save Asylum” campaign, where they appealed to lawmakers not to sacrifice asylum protections as part of any spending deal.”
Meanwhile, several organizations including the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) have led the Here to Work campaign. They held a march to Washington asking the Biden administration to expand employment authorization for all immigrants. A much needed solution to solve our dire need for workers. Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated we have a labor shortage problem. “Right now, the latest data shows that we have 9.6 million job openings in the U.S., but only 6.4 million unemployed workers. We have a lot of jobs, but not enough workers to fill them.”
INTERNATIONAL: COP28 MIGRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
My colleague, Bobby Watson attended the United Nations climate negotiations, COP28 in Dubai, UAE this past November – December 2023. A couple of the topics he writes about are the focus on climate-induced migration, and the need for a paradigm shift stating, “Texas has to reexamine its migration paradigm”. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) head has sounded the alarm stating:
“On average more than half of all forced “internal displacements” are driven by climate-related events. Last year, 2022, set a record for such displacements at 32.6 million individuals.”
Indeed, one of IOM’s action points at COP28 was the need to “Embrace human mobility as an adaptation strategy rather than stigmatizing the act of movement itself.” It is only a matter of time potentially, before Texans are forcibly displaced because of climate change. In fact, this is already happening in other parts of the United States. Just today, New Hampshire declared a state of emergency and evacuated people from their homes due to major coastal flooding during a winter storm.
Ultimately, think of how you would expect or want others to welcome you, when you’re forced to flee with nothing, but the clothing on your back.
EVENTS
- Join our Courts & Ports immersive two-day program in the Rio Grande Valley
- Join me in Eagle Pass for the Border Vigil Cross Memorial in Shelby Park – January 13, 2024
- Stay tuned for our educational SB4 Webinars coming soon!
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
- Know Your Rights Information on SB4 from ACLU Texas
- Detailed SB4 infographics from Texas Immigration Law Council
- Save Asylum Campaign: https://www.saveasylumnow.com/