By Marcos Maranges on January 8, 2023
Joe Biden recently issued new migratory measures to ease the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. He expanded the scope of Title 42 which will also apply now to Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitian migrants trying to enter illegally into the U.S. The Title 42 process allowed the U.S. to expel upward of two million migrants last year. Despite causing great confusion about his stance on this Trump anti-immigrant policy, the president is once again avoiding the crisis’ real causes and focusing on the branches.
The measure has been widely commented on in the news, but no one is questioning whether it is the right way to deal with the problem. Let’s avoid the government’s manners and be clear and straight on this issue.
The migrants’ flow from these countries dramatically grew during the fiscal year 2022 to the point of replacing the Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) at the top of detentions stats at the southern border. According to official information from Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) and Homeland Security (DHS), over half a million people from these countries illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. It accounts for almost 25% of the total turnout if Venezuelans were included.
It is also well known that the main reason for these migrants to come to the U.S. is economic instead of political as corporate media tirelessly states. Then, any effective and long-lasting solution should start over there without ignoring further support measures and not the other way around.
Instead of expanding the controversial title, the current administration should look for ways to ease the sanctions on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and stop meddling in Haiti. By doing so, these harassed countries will be able to offer better living conditions to their citizens, who will then have better chances to succeed in their origin countries instead of putting their lives in smugglers’ hands. It was not always like that, and the recent past proves it.
All Cuban migration peaks are related to “maximum pressure” periods on the island by the U.S. administrations: Mariel boatlift (1980) and the Rafters Crisis (1994). The current one began after Trump added 243 additional sanctions on top of the cruel and illegal blockade amid the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the worst economic crisis in decades. Venezuela’s case is not any different. Back in 2015, then-president Barack Obama declared the country a National Security Threat and started an economic war and a massive economic blockade, which is still standing today with minor changes. In other words, the U.S. crashed the Southern American country’s economy. Only after that did Venezuelan migrants massively arrived at U.S. southern border. Meanwhile, Nicaragua has gone through a similar process, while Haitian migrant figures sharply climbed after the U.S. fostered political chaos by supporting coups to insert subservient governments into power, as is the case of the current one.
Has anybody noticed it? Of course, they have, it is obvious, although acknowledging it in public will demand a 180-degree change in U.S. policy towards these nations, and that is U.S. establishment red line. Thus, the priority is not the migratory issue and its consequences for the American working class, but regime change projects designed to contain leftist and nationalist forces in a region considered by the U.S. elite as its backyard or “front yard” as Biden sarcastically renamed it.
On top of this, expanding the scope of Title 42 scope not consistent with Biden’s promises. His administration is entangled in a court trial to overrule the title, although it has expanded twice in less than three months the title’s scope: first on October 18th for Venezuelans and now.
How can Biden claim to be against something he keeps using as a tool to solve an urgent situation? It is all very questionable while casting doubts about the government’s real commitment to overrule such a discriminatory measure.
According to the CIS, applying title 42 to Venezuelans resulted in a 90% drop in the arrivals at the border. Hence, similar results are expected this time. Nevertheless, there are further problems since the Mexican government agreed to receive only 30.000 migrants from these four countries a month. This only covers Cubans’ monthly average, just to mention an example. What would happen to the rest?
This gap allows traffickers and smugglers a unique opportunity, since their “services” will be more expensive.
On the other hand, a lawful and safe journey for 30.000 migrants a month from these four countries indeed means a tiny step forward. These immigrants will be granted a visa and a work permit if they get a sponsor and match many other requirements. However, it will just benefit a minority since the amount is still insufficient, and the requirements to become an immigrant’s sponsor are not easy to match for most Latin workers’ families, meaning a dramatic reduction in the effectiveness of to Title 42 expansion.
Those who do not qualify will only have one way left, but this time subject to bigger dangers than before. The suffering of immigrants and their American relatives will only grow. Those who have historically borne the worst part of the story will remain the same as long as Washington politicians and their sponsors keep playing political games.
However, in the long run, the most controversial question is what would happen if Biden fulfills his promise to abolish the title. Probably the immigrants’ turnout will rebound. It sounds like everything could backfire, and that’s because there is no way out of this maze if real causes are not taken into account. Biden should go straight to the problem instead of playing around with people’s hopes, welfare, and lives.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US