Since the early days of his presidency, Joe Biden has faced a mounting immigration crisis at the southern border. As reported by the New York Times, in March alone, 170,000 migrants travelled to the border, which is the largest reported monthly rate in over a decade. Making matters worse, a substantial proportion of these emigrants from Mexico and Central American countries are unaccompanied minors. These unaccompanied minors pose a unique challenge to the US immigration system. According to The New Yorker, as of early April, there are 18,000 unaccompanied migrant children in US custody, 5,000 of which are in holding cells as the government rushes to find housing and other resources to support them.
Unsurprisingly, the Biden administration is confronting a wave of intense criticism from Republicans for its inability to find an adequate solution to the overflow of immigrants. These critics have accused Biden of softening his stance on immigration, thereby encouraging migrants to seek refuge in the US who otherwise might not have under the Trump administration. The irony, of course, is that when children were being separated from their parents during the former president’s term, many Republicans and Trump supporters barely acknowledged it. These Republicans, suddenly woke, are now appalled by the conditions in which many of the unaccompanied minors who recently arrived at the border are being held. Aside from the pure hypocrisy of the Republican belief that Biden’s election encouraged immigration to the United States, it also happens to be factually incorrect. As noted by Jonathan Blitzer in his recent New Yorker article, many of these migrants are fleeing their home countries in response to devastating natural disasters inextricably linked to climate change as well as unstable communities rife with violence, poverty, and corruption. The pandemic has also played a role in slowing immigration to the US, creating an overflow of migrants now that the virus has been to some extent contained.
These factual fallacies notwithstanding, many of Biden’s critics are calling on him to halt the reversal of Trump-era immigration policies. Concerns about this issue go beyond Republicans and polling data shows that 67 percent of Independents disapprove of Biden’s handling of the situation. This level of disapproval among Independents will likely get the Biden administration’s attention as Independents are a key group for Democratic chances of holding onto the majority in the House and Senate in 2022.
Despite the political pressure Biden is facing to impose tougher immigration policies, it is imperative that the administration hold firm on their policies and move toward lasting and viable immigration reform. While Biden has been quick to reverse some of Trump’s harsh immigration approaches, he has surprisingly held on to others, some of them quite problematic. For example, the “remain in Mexico” policy adopted by the Trump administration (which forces asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are pending) has not been undone. Similarly, Trump brought the asylum process to an almost complete halt, and Biden has been slow to fully revive this essential and longstanding feature of the US immigration system.
Biden has proposed a multitude of efforts to address the crisis at its root in Mexico and Central America by improving living conditions in these home countries as well as revitalising programs implemented under the Obama administration to expedite migrant children’s asylum cases before they arrive at the border. While these plans are commendable, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the more than 18,000 children currently seeking asylum, Biden must take action to create an inclusive and welcoming United States. Rather than cave to the political pressures to adopt stricter immigration policy, the current crisis is a moment where President Biden can reform a system that few presidents before him were brave enough to take on.