The Biden Administration is scrambling to gain control of what appears to be the biggest migrant surge to the US southern border in 20 years. Many migrants misinterpreted President Biden’s rollback of draconian Trump-era tactics as a sign of welcome and open borders. Admonishments not to come have not been heard or regarded. In February, there were some days with over 4000 new arrivals. When word got out that unaccompanied minors were no longer expelled back into Mexico, their numbers rose to over 500 a day.
With detention centers overcrowded, the Administration’s immediate response has been to build more housing capacity for the unaccompanied minors. Officials have even considered using local hotels. While these steps are needed, a solution to the larger problem is still required. Long-term Administration plans call for job development in Central America to reduce the incentive to travel north, but this too is only a piece of the answer.
This is a regional problem that requires a regional solution. Every nation along the migrant’s trek has to be a part of the solution. Central American nations need to feel some shame that their people want to flee so badly; and they need help fixing their problems. Mexico appears to have been a missing player in all of this—allowing migrants to cavalierly cross their country without intervention, or security. (The US finally convinced Mexico to take back more families and to close their southern border in exchange for receiving excess Covid vaccines.) Finally, the US needs to develop a coherent immigration policy.
Regionalization does not mean borders go away—it means effective cooperation across borders. If greater population flow across borders makes sense and becomes mutually beneficial, then methods for managing that will be devised. Moreover, regionalization involves cooperation among neighbors to address problems that have to be resolved collectively. This is one such problem; but over time, they will become more common. It is best to develop the framework for handling regional problems now, before something even bigger comes along.
Source:
Ashley Parker, Nick Miroff, Sean Sullivan, and Tyler Pager, “Surge at border a test for Biden,” Washington Post, 21 March 2021, A1; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-border-surge/2021/03/20/21824e94-8818-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html
Nick Miroff, “At the border: Biden handles surge without constraining it,” Washington Post, 7 March 2021, A1.
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