Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, CLINIC board member and chairman of the migration committee for the U.S. Catholic bishops, was invited to an unexpected car ride with President Biden during his recent trip to El Paso, Texas. During their conversation, Bishop Seitz shared with the president about the realities facing vulnerable migrants at the border. Click here to read more
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2023/01/09/bishop-seitz-president-biden-244489
By Leyla Santiago, Rosa Flores and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
The future for migrants waiting in El Paso, Texas, after crossing the US-Mexico border remains uncertain following the Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision that allows federal officials to continue expelling migrants before they have received an asylum hearing.
“We were hoping for something else,” said Rosanni Rodríguez, a Venezuelan migrant, when told of the court decision.
Rodriguez huddled with her two children on a chilly El Paso sidewalk on Tuesday, wearing a jacket provided by a local church. She and her children attempted to cross into the US once already, but were sent back to Mexico, where they were robbed and picked up by immigration officials as they slept on the ground of a city plaza, she said.Rodríguez is among the tens of thousands of migrants who have surged to the southern border despite the uncertain future of Title 42, a Trump-era policy which allows US authorities to swiftly return most migrants back across the border.
The controversial order was set to end December 21 but remains in legal limbo after the Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday allowing the policy to remain in effect while legal challenges play out – a process that could stretch out for at least several months.
“They won’t give us the opportunity to be able to cross legally,” said Rodríguez. “That’s what we wanted – to be able to cross legally – but you can’t.”
Several Republican-led states urged the Supreme Court to step in and block a lower court’s decision to terminate the policy. In addition to placing the order’s termination on hold, the court said it would take up the state’s appeal in its upcoming term, which begins in February.
Title 42 was put in place by the Center for Disease Control in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Officials at the time argued the public health order was intended to curb the spread of Covid-19, but immigration advocates argue the policy is being used to effectively halt immigration at the US-Mexico border.
Dylan Corbett, the executive director of Hope Border Institute that assists with running some of El Paso’s shelters, warned Tuesday that he expects the Supreme Court decision “will extend the bottleneck at the border, create unsustainable pressure on border enforcement and lead to more deaths.”
On this December 18, International Migrants Day we recommit our efforts to amplify the voices of those seeking refuge and asylum at our borders and redouble our support to those human rights defenders at the U.S.-Mexico border. From the editors
Over the weekend (December 9,10) the El Paso Sector experienced a major surge in illegal crossings, with a 3-day average of 2,460 daily encounters, primarily through the downtown area of El Paso. CNN
Español: https://tribunodelpueblo.org/migrantes-en-el-paso-son-humanos-sr-abbot-no-invasores/
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I Represent El Paso. What I’m Asking For Doesn’t Include Open Borders.
Veronica Escobar.
Until we address what motivates vulnerable people to leave their home countries, they will continue to come.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/opinion/border-migrants-central-america.html
Until we address what motivates vulnerable people to leave their home countries, they will continue to come.
By Veronica Escobar
Ms. Escobar is a Democratic representative from El Paso.
March 24, 2021
Many Republicans are eager to blame President Biden for the increase in families and children arriving at the border, but the truth is that this is not a new phenomenon. Since 2014, as Central American migrants have come, generous border communities like El Paso have ensured that they are safe and cared for. Meanwhile, the rest of the country wrings its hands, politicians complain about the “crisis at the border,” businesses across the country benefit from the labor of these hard-working individuals — and nothing changes.
Americans must finally acknowledge that the real crisis is not at the border but outside it, and that until we address that crisis, this flow of vulnerable people seeking help at our doorstep will not end anytime soon.
Presidents’ words are a minor factor in migrants’ decisions to leave their homeland. Overwhelmingly and consistently, Central American refugees tell stories of fleeing violence, persecution, food insecurity and calamitous economic conditions in their countries. Back-to-back hurricanes and storms that have made it impossible to rebuild are new motivations to go north.
At most, what politicians say changes only the tone of the pitches criminal organizations make to the migrants they prey on, pitches of hope with a compassionate administration or fear with a cruel one. Policies limiting legal avenues for immigrants encourage them to undertake desperate measures to enter the United States, making it more difficult for agents and more profitable for criminal organizations.
Closing the border isn’t a real solution. It’s clear that even the most draconian efforts by the Trump administration — walls, family separation, expulsion — did not stop the flow of migrants to the southwestern border. Neither did a deadly pandemic. The Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy put an unsustainable burden on Mexico, and pushing people back into that country fuels even more of the criminal activity that already plagues it.
The Biden administration’s challenge is not just the number of children arriving at the border; it’s also that the previous administration effectively obliterated existing systems and infrastructure (flawed as they were), failed to work collaboratively on an orderly transition and created a backlog of vulnerable people on the other side of our ports of entry.
Politically, it’s never the “right time” for immigration reform. Even politicians genuinely seeking solutions have often been afraid to tackle the issue because there’s no quick and easy fix.
We came close in 2013. The Senate passed a bill with 68 votes. But John Boehner, then the speaker of the House, refused to bring the bill to the floor. Since then and especially during the Trump era, xenophobia has become useful politically to some as well as a tool of division.
The good news is that we now have an administration willing to work on the issue. It will take significant collaboration and something in very limited supply: patience.
Mr. Biden should engage the leaders of the Western Hemisphere for a summit that identifies shared responsibilities, challenges and opportunities. Engaging Northern Triangle countries, fully restoring the Central American Minors program (which allows children to apply for refugee status in their home countries) and reinstating aid (practices curtailed by former President Donald Trump) is a good start. But a multilateral approach must include our Canadian allies and address the causes of the migration coming not just from Central America but from Mexico as well. We need a shared plan with a focus on security to combat crime and persecution that includes cracking down on gangs and other criminal organizations and creates accountability for politicians and officials who turn a blind eye to criminals.
We must stop treating vulnerable children and families like a national security threat. We have to rethink our facilities and processes to include social workers, humanitarian aid workers and other civilian personnel at our processing centers to greet those who seek refuge here with humanity. And we need to reimagine the infrastructure where families and children are processed.
We also need to understand that climate change has made some of the poorest parts of our globe too difficult to inhabit. Hurricanes and drought are causing food insecurity and mass migration. We shouldn’t be surprised that populations in hard-hit areas have no choice but to leave.
Another driver is our country’s eagerness to employ migrant labor. A majority of unaccompanied children and families from Central America come to the United States to reunite with family members (parents, children, siblings or spouses) who are working here in construction, meatpacking, agriculture or the hospitality industry — paying taxes, helping their employers be profitable and supporting our economy. Many immigrants are the very essential workers we’ve depended on during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Congress must enact immigration reform. Last week the House passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act, as well as other measures that would create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those granted temporary protected status for humanitarian reasons and agricultural workers and their families. They are promising, yet they address only a small fraction of the people already living and working here. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has introduced another important piece of legislation that would take a multifaceted approach to immigration, including dealing with the root causes of it. (These bills also highlight why many of us believe we must eliminate the filibuster, which has been an instrument of gridlock for immigration reform.)
The Biden administration must work with Congress to reform the Department of Homeland Security. Border Patrol agents have been performing duties unrelated to their law enforcement functions, like data entry for processing migrants and child and family supervision. Agents should be on the ground, focused on collaborating with law enforcement partners to track criminal activity and apprehending those who pose a true threat to our security.
Those of us who represent border communities can help the administration reshape a system that has focused on border militarization, a flawed and expensive strategy that we should all agree — after decades and hundreds of billions of dollars — is a failure.
If we continue to ignore the facts and use the same failed approaches of the past, we shouldn’t be surprised when we have the same conversations every year. The Biden administration is willing to try new approaches and focus on solutions; it wants to restore order and humanity once and for all. It deserves a chance.
I’m not asking for open borders. I’m simply asking for open minds.
Veronica Escobar is a Democratic representative from Texas.
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| Memorial in El Paso for the victims of the terrorist shooting there. |
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The El Paso shooter wasn’t a “lone wolf.” His act of white supremacist terror is part of a century of racial violence targeting fronterizo communities.
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People visit a makeshift memorial at the scene of a mass shooting in El Paso. , AP Photo/John Locher
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In the immediate aftermath of the El Paso shooting—the largest massacre of Latinx people in the history of the United States—politicians of all stripes stood before the cameras and gave their diagnosis of what just happened. They sounded like the proverbial blind men who touched one part of the elephant and confused the different fragments for the whole. El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, a Republican who once praised the “freedom fence” for keeping out “riff raff,” emphasized that the atrocity was committed by an outsider. Other voicesblamed mental health, video games, and the lack of gun control laws.
But none of these diagnoses went deep enough, looking only at the symptoms. Before we know how to fight back effectively against white supremacist terrorism like the El Paso massacre, we have to know exactly what we’re up against. History offers an important instrument to determine the root causes of what I characterize as a deadly epidemic.
The chilling manifesto reportedly posted online by the alleged shooter tapped into entrenched narratives with deep roots in the history of the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s unlikely that the 21-year-old from Allen, Texas, knew just how utterly repetitive his words and actions were.
The height of Texas Ranger violence against Mexicans occurred from 1915 to 1919, with some 300 ethnic Mexicans murdered between 1915 and 1916 alone. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
The shooter wrote that he was protecting whites in America from “cultural and ethnic replacement” brought on by “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He claimed that “Hispanics will take control of the local and state government of my beloved Texas, changing policy to better suit their needs.”
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| Courage. Strength. Resilience. |
| As mandatory reporters, teachers said they are obliged to speak out against detainment and family separations. |
, Photos: Kavitha Cardoza
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Hundreds of educators protested the United States' treatment of immigrant children in a "teach-in" on Sunday, saying that as mandatory reporters, they are obliged to speak out against detainment and family separations.
The teach-in, held in El Paso, Texas, was organized by Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, who teaches newly arrived refugee and immigrant students in Washington state. Educators from Mexico and across the U.S.—the goal was one from every state—joined for a day of speeches, songs, and lessons on immigration. Former U.S. Secretary of Education John King and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten were also there to speak.
"I think that as an educator particularly, any time a kid comes into my classroom—any child from wherever they are, whoever they are, wherever they were born, or who their family is—I love them and welcome them and see the endless potential in them," Manning said in an interview. "I don't really see [this event] as political. I see it as demanding that we treat everyone with dignity and respect and honor them and welcome them."
Teachers are mandatory reporters, meaning they're required under U.S. law to report suspected child abuse to authorities. Manning said she can't remain silent about the fate of immigrant children who have been detained by U.S. immigration authorities. Last year, the Trump administration began enforcing a "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which led to about 3,000 children being separated from their parents or other adults who had accompanied them in crossing the border. Those children were detained in federal detention facilities.
Many believed the separation was tantamount to child abuse, since trauma can cause lasting psychological damage. Trump reversed the policy in June after public outcry, and a federal judge ordered all separated children be reunited with a parent. But a government report released in January said that the exact number of children still separated from their families is "unknown." Two migrant children have died in U.S. custody—a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy, both from Guatemala.
"Teaching what I teach and knowing what I know about our immigrant community and how much they bring into our communities, both economically and socially, it was appalling to me what was happening," Manning said. "I felt really helpless because I thought, 'I have this really great platform, how do I use it appropriately to talk about what's happening, and to help people understand that this is a huge human rights violation, and it's abuse, and we need these kids to be in our classrooms.'"
Those feelings led to the teach-in. The teachers have three main demands: that immigrant children in U.S. custody remain together with their families, be held in smaller residential settings rather than institutional facilities, and be released to their sponsors within 20 days. Children should also receive six hours of classroom instruction, with the appropriate language services, each school day, they say. (That's also mandated by Department of Health and Human Services policy.)
Manning said she hopes this becomes a movement, rather than a one-day event. Teachers, she said, will not stop until all children are safe.
Ivonne Orozco, the 2018 New Mexico Teacher of the Year, who also helped organize the teach-in, said teachers prepare children to be productive citizens—and that often means speaking out about what's going on in the world.
"When a community is wondering what to do, what to think, they often turn to the first person in power and authority that they can find, and those people are often teachers," she said. "So when teachers stand up and say, 'This is what we believe in. This is what we know is right,' it matters for our communities because we are sending the message of inclusion."
The teach-in was originally slated to be held outside the Tornillo temporary detention facility, which held up to 2,800 migrant children. But the shelter closed last month, so Manning moved the teach-in to El Paso, which is separated from Mexico by a border wall. President Donald Trump recently gave a speech there to push for border wall funding.
"I see the closing of Tornillo as the beginning because it shows that our government has the ability and the capacity to close these facilities," Manning said, adding that there are still several more detention facilities holding children. "There's a lot of work to do, and Tornillo just proves that it can be done."
Manning has been outspoken in her support for immigrant rights. When she met Trump at the White House last May, Manning gave him a stack of letters from her immigrant students. (She also wore buttons supporting women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and other political causes in a silent rebuke.)
In some of the letters, students shared their path to the United States with the president. Others were more "pointed" with advice, Manning said: One young woman from an African country wrote that other students were using Trump's inflammatory rhetoric against immigrants in the hallways. "She said that there are very real consequences for the president's language, because he's representative for other people and a model," Manning said.
Orozco, the 2018 New Mexico Teacher of the Year, immigrated from Mexico as a child and then received protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
"If it wasn't for these policies of giving Dreamers an opportunity to work, I would have never been teacher of the year," Orozco said. "When we have these policies of incarcerating children, we are taking away that potential. We're taking away that future that they can have."
Madeline Will is a reporter for Education Week who covers the teaching profession. She also writes for the Teacher Beat blog.
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