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Texas governor Greg Abbott says that if coronavirus spreads further in his state, it will not be because of his order to get rid of masks and business restrictions, but because President Biden is admitting undocumented immigrants who carry the virus. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is also talking up the immigration issue, suggesting (falsely) that the American Rescue Plan would send $1400 of taxpayer money to every illegal alien in America.

Right-wing media is also running with stories of a wave of immigrants at the border, but what is really happening needs some untangling.

When Trump launched his run for the presidency with attacks on Mexican immigrants, and later tweeted that Democrats dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, he was tangling up our long history of Mexican immigration with a recent, startling trend of refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (and blaming Democrats for both). That tendency to mash all immigrants and refugees together and put them on our southern border badly misrepresents whats really going on.

Mexican immigration is nothing new; our western agribusinesses were built on migrant labor of Mexicans, Japanese, and poor whites, among others. From the time the current border was set in 1848 until the 1930s, people moved back and forth across it without restrictions. But in 1965, Congress passed the Hart-Celler Act, putting a cap on Latin American immigration for the first time. The cap was low: just 20,000, although 50,000 workers were coming annually.

After 1965, workers continued to come as they always had, and to be employed, as always. But now their presence was illegal. In 1986, Congress tried to fix the problem by offering amnesty to 2.3 million Mexicans who were living in the U.S. and by cracking down on employers who hired undocumented workers. But rather than ending the problem of undocumented workers, the new law exacerbated it by beginning the process of guarding and militarizing the border. Until then, migrants into the United States had been offset by an equal number leaving at the end of the season. Once the border became heavily guarded, Mexican migrants refused to take the chance of leaving.

Since 1986, politicians have refused to deal with this disconnect, which grew in the 1990s when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) flooded Mexico with U.S. corn and drove Mexican farmers to find work, largely in the American Southeast. But this problem is neither new nor catastrophic. While about 6 million undocumented Mexicans currently live in the United States, most of them 78% are long-term residents, here more than ten years.

Only 7% have lived here less than five years. (This ratio is much more stable than that for undocumented immigrants from any other country, and indeed, about twice as many undocumented immigrants come legally and overstay their visas than come illegally across the southern border.)

Since 2007, the number of undocumented Mexicans living in the United States has declined by more than a million. Lately, more Mexicans are leaving America than are coming. What is happening right now at Americas southern border is not really about Mexican migrant workers.

Beginning around 2014, people began to flee warlike levels of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, coming to the U.S. for asylum. This is legal, although most come illegally, taking their chances with smugglers who collect fees to protect migrants on the Mexican side of the border and to get them into the U.S.

The Obama administration tried to deter migrants by expanding the detention of families, and made significant investments in Central America in an attempt to stabilize the region by expanding economic development and promoting security. The Trump administration emphasized deterrence. It cut off support to Central American countries, worked with authoritarians to try to stop regional gangs, drastically limited the number of refugees the U.S. would admit, andinfamouslydeliberately separated children from their parents to deter would-be asylum seekers.

The number of migrants to the U.S. began to drop in 2000 and continued to drop throughout Trumps years in office.

Now, with a new administration, the dislocation of the pandemic, and two catastrophic storms in Central America in addition to the violence, people are again surging to the border to try to get into the U.S. In the last month, the Border Patrol encountered more than 100,000 people. They are encouraged by smugglers, who falsely tell them the border is now open. Numbers released on March 10 show that the number of children and families coming to the border doubled between January and February.

The Biden administration is warning them not to comeyet. The Trump administration gutted immigration staff and facilities, while the pandemic has further cut available beds. Most of those trying to cross the border are single adults, and the Biden administration is turning all of them back under a pandemic public health order. (It is possible that the 100,000 number is inflated as people are making repeated attempts.)

At the same time, border officials are temporarily holding families to evaluate their claims to asylum, and are also evaluating the cases of about 65,000 asylum seekers forced by the Trump administration to stay in dangerous conditions in Mexicothis backlog is swelling the new numbers. Once the migrants are tested for coronavirus and then processed, they are either deported or released until their asylum hearing.

This has apparently led to a number of families being released in communities in Arizona and Texas without adequate clothing or money. In normal times, churches and shelters would step in to help, but the pandemic has shut that aid down to a trickle. Residents are afraid the numbers of migrants will climb, and that they will bring Covid-19. Biden offered federal help to Texas Governor Abbott to test migrants for the coronavirus, but Abbott has refused to take responsibility for testing. (Migrants in Brownsville tested positive at a lower rate than Texas residents.)

There is yet another issue: the administration is having a hard time handling the numbers of unaccompanied minors arriving. Their numbers have tripled recently, overwhelming the system, especially in Texas where the state is still digging out from the deep freeze. The children are supposed to spend no more than 72 hours in processing with Border Patrol before they are transferred to facilities overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services while agents search for family members to take the children. But at least in some cases, the kids have been with Border Patrol for as much as 77 hours. Recently, there were more than 3,700 unaccompanied children in Border Patrol facilities and about 8,800 unaccompanied children in HHS custody.

The Biden administration is considering addressing this surge by looking for emergency shelters for minors crossing the border, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or placing more HHS staff at the border. It has asked for $4 billion over four years to try to restore stability to the Central American countries hardest hit by violence. On March 12, the administration announced that HHS would not use immigration status against those coming forward to claim children, out of concern that the previous Trump-era policy made people unwilling to come forward.

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Political Misdirection: Why Republican pundits blame Biden for the broken immigration system he inherited - Milwaukee Independent

The democrats' dual track of open borders and covid lockdowns is thinly veiled.

First, they insist the country must be locked down to save Americans from covid deaths. Though the infection and death rates are dropping fast, they promote continued lockdowns, masks and social distancing. Messaging from President Biden and Dr. Fauci is "stay the course."They appear to be very concerned if the country varies from their forced lockdowns the country will return to the fall of 2020 spike.

This messaging would be clear and justified if it was consistent, but it isn't. There is a clear problem at our southern border. Thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing the border unchecked, un-tested, un-masked, not social distancing and unvaccinated. Many are being relocated throughout the interior of the country.

So, I wonder which is it? What does this administration want? Why are illegal immigrants exempt from their rules? Why would they risk infecting American citizens with this virus? Good questions with no answers!

Gary LaVallee

Holland

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Letter: Immigration adding to pandemic problems - Worcester Telegram

To the Editor:

Under direction from Joe Biden, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is no longer referring to immigrants as illegal aliens, aliens, or undocumented aliens in internal and external communications, but to instead use the terms noncitizen, undocumented noncitizen, or undocumented individual. and is seeking to no longer use assimilation, but instead to use integration, as well as to refer to those who apply for benefits like green cards, food stamps, Medicaid, etc. as customers. The President has said these name changes are a symbolic gesture to acknowledge the U.S. as a nation of immigrants.Liberals have taken these name changes to extremes in the past. In 2019, New York City Commission on Human Rights banned the term illegal alien or illegals when its used with intent to demean, humiliate or harass a person and an offender can face up to $250,000 in fines. Hardly a symbolic gesture!The DHS, as of March 9, 2021, dropped the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds Final Rule so Illegal aliens can now receive benefits that include Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), most forms of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, and will not be required to demonstrate self-sufficiency in order to remain in the U.S.In yet another change in immigration policy, Agents will no longer seek to deport immigrants for less serious offenses such as drug based crimes, assault, DUI, money laundering, property crimes, fraud, tax crimes, solicitation, or charges without convictions, said acting ICE director Tae Johnson. Agents seeking to arrest fugitives outside of jails will also need prior approval from the agencys director in Washington justifying the decision.While it is true that immigrants helped build the U.S., these people which include my great-grandparents who came here legally in the 1800s, did not rely on handouts, and were required to obey the laws of this nation. Criminals, people with contagious diseases, polygamists, anarchists, beggars and importers of prostitutes were denied entry.Fast forward to 2021. In summing up the changes in immigration law & policy for our newly christened undocumented noncitizens, violating immigration laws is no longer illegal, they can freely commit drug related crimes, assault, DUI, money laundering, property crimes, fraud, tax crimes, and prostitution without fear of deportation, are customers when applying for benefits, and no longer have to demonstrate an ability to work and be self-supportive to remain in the U.S.As Ukrainian-American comedian Yakov Smirnoff exclaimed, What a Country!

David DallasVillage of Bradford

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ICE given marching orders on what to call those illegally crossing the border - Villages-News

President BidenJoe BidenNoem touts South Dakota coronavirus response, knocks lockdowns in CPAC speech On The Trail: Cuomo and Newsom a story of two embattled governors Biden celebrates vaccine approval but warns 'current improvement could reverse' MORE last week introduced his administrations major immigration bill, after issuing an executive order on Feb. 2 to address the root causes of migration from Central America to the United States and, during his campaign, pledging to spendat least $4 billion to reduce endemic corruption, violence and poverty in the region.

While the concept of increasing foreign aid to assist struggling countries may sound good on paper, it is highly ineffective especially in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Throwing billions of dollars at these countries will not reduce illegal migration to the United States. The money likely will be abused by corrupt government officials, and the investment does not address the pull factors that incentivize illegal immigration at our southern border.

Foreign aid packages have not reduced or controlled migration from the Northern Triangle countries in recent years. In response to the 2014 humanitarian and border crisis, largely fueled by migrating families from these three countries, the United States introduced the Alliance for Prosperity initiative that committed an initial $750 million to these countries to help alleviate poor economic conditions and violence.

But this aid package did little to deter illegal immigration. In fiscal year 2014, then seen as one of the worst border crises on record, immigration authorities apprehended roughly 237,000 migrants from these countries. But in FY 2019, prior to COVID-19 travel and border restrictions, around 623,000 migrants were apprehended a more than 160 percent increase in just five years.

This increase is in line with the numerous migrant caravans that have increased in frequency from 2018 and that come in record sizes. If U.S. aid were working as intended, border agents would be apprehending fewer people. Instead, the opposite is occurring.

The Northern Triangle countries are burdened by generations of corrupt and inept governments that neglect the needs and interests of their people and loot the countries treasuries for their own gain. They cannot be trusted with large sums of aid.

In a recently declassified corruption report, the State Department accused more than 50 current or former senior officials of engaging or facilitating corruption in the Northern Triangle countries.

In Guatemala, former president Jimmy Morales prevented a United Nations-backed anti-corruption investigation into his government and was accused of widespread crimes. He then questionably received immunity while his administration officials were prosecuted.

Similarly, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernndez was recently charged for taking bribes from drug traffickers and, according to U.S. prosecutors, had the countrys armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the United States.

These incidents reveal that there is little trust in these leaders. Rewarding them with billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in aid likely will not help their impoverished citizens.

Biden believes that addressing the root causes of migration in Central America will solve the nations illegal migration problem. But what he should be addressing are his own policies that encourage migrants to come to our border.

In just over a month, Biden has undermined the nations border security by suspending the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program and halting all border wall construction. To impoverished Central Americans, these actions indicate the border is open and anyone is invited to come over.

Once migrants cross into the country illegally, they likely wont be removed; Biden has halted immigration enforcement in the interior of the country. He also declared his intention to freeze deportations for at least 100 days and to eliminate private immigration detention centers. It is unclear whether these initiatives will be fully implemented, but the message itself is likely encouraging migrants to come to America.

To top it all off, the Biden administration introduced mass-amnesty legislation that would grant more than 11 million illegal aliens in our country a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Rewarding those who knowingly broke our federal and immigration laws will serve as a significant pull factor to other migrants from the region.

Rather than address our nations poverty and crime which he was elected to do Biden appears content to shell out billions of dollars to Central American countries with little return to show for it. Working with these governments to address serious problems in their countries is a worthy idea, but they require sincere efforts from their own leaders. The United States cannot be forever held hostage to corrupt, incompetent regimes that mishandle their countrys problems.

It would be wise for the Biden administration to accept this reality and reassess its foreign aid and immigration policies.

Matthew Tragesser is press secretary at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in Washington. He previously worked in the Wisconsin State Senate and for a Wisconsin political nonprofit. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewTrag and @FAIRImmigration.

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Throwing money at Central America will not curb illegal migration | TheHill - The Hill

The biggest driver of illegal immigration in the United States is economic opportunity. The ease with which aliens without work authorization can procure a job in this country is an attractive magnet to come to the U.S., either unlawfully across the border or with permission and overstaying a visa. Illegal aliens are rational people who respond to incentives. They have rationally calculated that the expense of paying a cartel or coyote to be smuggled across the border or the fees to obtain a tourist visa and plane ticket are miniscule compared to the financial benefits of U.S. wages, regardless of the job.

The economic harm of illegal aliens in the workforce is obvious. Lower skilled Americans, including minorities and young people, either lose their jobs, cannot obtain a job, or have their wages suppressed. Unscrupulous employers who intentionally hire illegal aliens obtain an unfair advantage against their competitors by reducing their payroll expenses, resulting in enlarged profits or additional capital to invest in the company to make its products more appealing to American customers unaware of these nefarious hiring practices.

But it doesn't have to be this way. In fact, much of the economic harm of illegal immigration can be cured for free. The U.S. government already has an online system that employers can use to instantaneously confirm the employment eligibility of their employees. The system is called E-Verify and it is free to use and over 98 percent accurate. E-Verify is far more efficient and effective than the current paper-based Form I-9 process that effectively requires human resources employees to function as document integrity bouncers. What is your confidence level in being able to identify if the driver's license presented by an employee is legitimate or a forgery? HR professionals are well versed in many areas, but they are not experts in validating identity documents, nor should they be. Ensuring the integrity of the workforce should be the job of the government whose databases are best positioned to know with certainty whether or not a particular employee is authorized to work.

While E-Verify usage has increased in recent years, the majority of private employers still do not use it. That could change soon if Congress is serious about improving the wages of Americans. Earlier today, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, a bill that would phase in mandatory E-Verify while gradually increasing the federal minimum wage. Specifically, the bill provides an 18-month phase in of mandatory E-Verify to give small businesses additional time to comply, increases civil and criminal penalties on employers that hire illegal aliens, requires employees at least 18 years old to produce a photo ID that the employer would match against any photos contained in the E-Verify system, and provides $100 million annually for E-Verify to ensure it is not impacted by a government shutdown. At the same time, over a several-year period the bill would increase the federal minimum wage (with a lower amount for small businesses for the first five years) to $10 an hour. Starting six years after implementation, the federal minimum wage is indexed to inflation.

The economic harm of illegal aliens in the workforce is not a new problem, but its effects have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 shutdowns. Getting Americans back to work for fair wages should be the top priority of Congress and the Biden administration. As the fact sheet the senators released ahead of the bill states, "Mandatory E-Verify would preserve American jobs for legal workers and remove incentives for increased illegal immigration." Combined with the federal minimum wage increase, "Both policies work in tandem to create tighter labor markets and put upward pressure on wages." In the press release that accompanied the introduction of the bill, Sen. Cotton emphasized the clear benefits of the bill:

American workers today compete against millions of illegal immigrants for too few jobs with wages that are too low that's unfair. Ending the black market for illegal labor will open up jobs for Americans. Raising the minimum wage will allow Americans filling those jobs to better support their families. Our bill does both.

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Senate Proposal Seeks to Boost Wages and Curb Illegal Immigration - Immigration Blog