The American Immigration Council released a special report called “Beyond a Border Solution" on May 3, which says presidential administrations from both parties have consistently failed to meet the challenges that the southern U.S. border poses.
According to the special report, instead of establishing an organized and compassionate system for humanitarian protection and border management, "we have been left with a dysfunctional system that serves the needs of no one: not the government, border communities or asylum seekers themselves.”
“The number of asylum seekers seeking to enter each day is significantly higher than the number the United States can process at official border crossings,” American Immigration Council continued. “The location and manner of crossings varies widely across the border, often changing unpredictably based on misinformation, rumor or the demands of powerful transnational criminal organizations, which maintain control over many of the migration routes with a bloody fist. The system is constantly at risk of bottlenecks and overcrowding, building the perception of chaos at the border. And inside the United States, underfunding, neglect and deliberate sabotage have left the adjudicatory process in shambles.”
The New York Post reported in May that cartels offer passage across the border to migrants in the area for a fee. This illegal passage is used to avoid being banned from the U.S. for up to five years if they are initially denied entrance at the border. This route is equally dangerous, if not more, since the cartels often force immigrants to smuggle illegal drugs, abduct them for human trafficking, and have even amputated people's fingers if immigrants can’t pay the money they owe.
The Heritage Foundation reported that human trafficking is a important issue in relation to the southern border. There was a major surge in human trafficking during the previous fiscal year, with a 50% increase in arrests and an 80% increase in convictions.
Of those trafficked into the U.S. a majority, amounting to 72%, were immigrants and many were in the country without proper documentation. The vulnerable population most affected by the issue consists of women and children who are at a heightened risk of being smuggled and subsequently subjected to trafficking. The article states that this can be traced back to the current border policy.
According to the Council's special report, "There are currently over 1.3 million pending asylum applications, including roughly 750,000 in immigration courts and over 600,000 at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The average asylum case in immigration court now takes 4.25 years from start through a final asylum hearing, leaving those with meritorious claims stuck in legal limbo and those whose claims are denied facing the prospect of deportation after they have already put down roots in the United States."
Outdated laws also hurt U.S. communities, according to the report, by not allowing immigrants to work upon entering the country and forcing those around them to help.
The American Immigration Council provided a list of 13 recommendations, which they said will put the U.S. on a path toward a better border system. The Council summarized its stance on the border this way: "Rather than focus only on temporary reductions of the number of people crossing the border, we need to address the longstanding shortfalls of the system and be prepared to accept higher numbers of migrants in a humane and orderly fashion.”
