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(THE CONVERSATION) The media create the impression that there is an unprecedented crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, with droves of children arriving alone, as well as families flooding to the border.

There is a crisis.

But as a law professor who studies child migration, I can tell you that its nothing new.

Children and families have been fleeing to the U.S. for years, particularly from Mexico and the so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Yet aspects of the current situation are different from the past. And whether more individuals are attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border than have been in the last 20 years, as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas predicted, remains to be seen.

The situation is best explained by looking at the number of migrants who have arrived at the border, as reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a law enforcement agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Customs and Border Protection puts arriving noncitizens in three categories: unaccompanied children, families and single adults. Children are designated as unaccompanied if they are under the age of 18 and arrive at a U.S. border without lawful status and without a parent or legal guardian.

The numbers of children like these and families have been steadily increasing in recent years. Examining those numbers puts the current circumstances at the U.S.-Mexico border into context.

A steady stream

Except for fiscal year 2020, which started on Oct. 1, 2019, the number of children and families migrating to the U.S. has been escalating since 2013, with highs in 2014 and 2019, and a slight dip in 2015. Overall, the number of arriving unaccompanied children has been above 40,000 every year since 2014. In most yearsit was above 50,000. For arriving families, the numbers have hovered around 70,000 each year, with surges in 2018 and especially 2019.

Scholars of migration look to many push and pull factors that draw migrant children to the U.S. border. These include family and community violence, sexual assault, government corruption, agricultural disease, drought, discrimination against indigenous populations and extreme poverty.

The vast majority of the migrating families, and almost all (95%) of the unaccompanied children, are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

So is anything different about what is taking place now? Why are government officials like Mayorkas calling the situation difficult and complicated?

There are three interrelated issues to watch.

1. Rapid increase

From January to February 2021, there was a 61% uptick in the number of arriving unaccompanied children, and a 163% increase in arriving families. The numbers for March 2021 have not yet been formally reported, but they are expected to be high.

If this trend continues, fiscal year 2021 has the potential to surpass the high numbers that were seen in fiscal years 2014 and 2019. However, this is not yet clear, as migration flows tend to increase in the spring months and reduce a bit in the hotter, late summer months.

2. Push and pull factors

There are additional push and pull factors that could give rise to increased migration.

Relief agenciesreport the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened economic conditions in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico which have always been dire.

Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua suffered through two Category 4 hurricanes within a two-week span in November 2020 that killed hundreds of people and left millions in need.

Also, asylum-seeking children and families may have some sense that the current U.S. administration will be more welcoming than the prior one. This might motivate more migrants to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. in search of safety and protection.

3. The U.S. government was not prepared

Advocates celebrated when the Biden administration exempted unaccompanied minors from the current Title 42 expulsion policy that expels migrants based upon a public health law. But government officials were ill-prepared for the surge of arriving children that followed.

By law, Border Patrol agents have 72 hours to turn children over to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Yet the Office of Refugee Resettlement currently lacks capacity to house all the children in need of shelter, in part because many of their facilities were dismantled under the Trump administration.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is rallying to construct more shelters and to release children as quickly as possible to relatives, but the backlog is huge, and many children have had to remain in Border Patrol custody for far longer than 72 hours. Whether and when the Office of Refugee Resettlement will be able to get the situation under control remains unclear.

So, is there anything different about what is taking place now?

So far, not really, although there are serious concerns about the conditions for the recently arriving children, and many hope that the expulsion policy will soon be lifted for all migrants. But time will tell whether this is an unprecedented year or not.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/the-situation-at-the-us-mexico-border-is-a-crisis-but-is-it-new-158106.

Read more from the original source:
The situation at the US-Mexico border is a crisis but is it new? - Manistee News Advocate

18 March 2023

Image source, Getty Images

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announcing his "stop the boats" policy

The UK government is banking on its new migration bill to stem the flow of small boats crossing the English Channel. The policy's headline-grabbing slogan is identical to that used in Australia a decade ago.

For many Australians, hearing UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promise to "stop the boats" was a moment of deja vu.

The same words were used by former Australian PM Tony Abbott in 2013 - helping him win an election.

The situation in Australia was similar to the one facing the UK now.

Last year, more than 45,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats to reach the UK. In 2013, Australians watched as 20,000 migrants made similar perilous journeys from countries like Indonesia, Iran and Sri Lanka. Scores died en route.

And so, during his winning general election campaign, at the height of the crisis, right-wing Liberal Party leader Mr Abbott promised to implement border rules even tougher than the outgoing Labor government. Under his "Operation Sovereign Borders" policy, migrant boats would be intercepted and either returned to where they travelled from or those on board taken to overseas island detention centres.

Human rights groups have long criticised Australia's border policy - but other countries, like Denmark, have been inspired.

"Australia absolutely wrote this playbook - and we're still writing it," says Australian National University politics lecturer Kim Huynh, whose family fled Vietnam for Australia via boat in the 1970s.

More than just three words

The UK copied word-for-word Australia's "stop the boats" slogan, but the broader rhetoric - the tough language - is also strikingly similar.

Australia's former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has suggested several times that the country has blocked murderers, rapists and paedophiles from seeking asylum by boat. And in 2017, he faced a backlash after suggesting that many asylum seekers who travelled to Australia were "fake refugees" trying to "rip the Australian taxpayer off".

In the UK, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has controversially referred to her job as being "about stopping the invasion on our southern coast". And - while numbers of Albanians arriving fell significantly at the end of 2022 - she told MPs last week that many of the migrants were young men "from safe countries like Albania" who were "rich enough to pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds for passage".

That kind of language resonates in both Australia and the UK, partly because their populations have - to differing degrees - "island mindsets", Dr Huynh says. "A lot of the critics would say [the rhetoric] works politically because it stirs up fears of outsiders."

Image source, Getty Images

Former Australian PM Tony Abbott described his border policy as "decent, humane and compassionate"

And then, there is the policy rationale - the public marketing. Both countries have stressed the humanitarian benefits.

Ms Braverman told the Commons last week that the UK government was acting with "determination", "compassion" and "proportion".

While in 2014, Mr Abbott spoke of a policy that was saving lives. "As long as the boats keep coming, we will keep having deaths at sea," he said. "So, the most decent, humane and compassionate thing you can do is to stop the boats."

Policy similarities?

The UK's current migration issues aren't identical to the ones that faced Australia 10 years ago - and so the policy touted by Westminster does not exactly mirror that of Tony Abbott's coalition administration in Canberra. But comparisons can be drawn.

Image source, Australian Maritime Safety Authority

A boat carrying asylum seekers near Christmas Island in 2012

But arguably, the most important aspect of Australian policy in 2013 was the reintroduction of so-called "turnbacks" at sea - having been used previously between 2001-03. Defined by the Abbott government as "the safe removal of vessels from Australian waters, with passengers and crew returned to their countries of departure", boats were prevented from reaching shore. There was a dramatic reduction in arrivals by sea.

In April 2022, the UK government dropped plans to return small boats in the Channel back to France, after the Royal Navy refused to carry out the operations. The military conducted trials of practices similar to those performed by Australian armed forces but declared them "inappropriate".

The UK announced on 10 March it would give Paris almost 500m over three years - to fund extra police patrols on beaches and a new detention centre in northern France.

Did Australia's policies work?

While Operation Sovereign Borders remains controversial, both major parties in Australia - the right-wing Liberals and left-wing Labor - still support the policies behind it. They argue the country's success lies in the policy mix working together to deter asylum seekers.

But there are those who believe the offshore processing had little - if any - impact.

It was re-introduced by Labor in 2012 and the facilities in Papua New Guinea and Nauru quickly filled up.

"Two months in, the government was saying, 'We've already had more people arrive than we'll ever be able to accommodate offshore, and so we're going to start releasing some people into the community in Australia,'" says refugee law expert Madeline Gleeson.

Image source, Getty Images

Photo from 2012 showing the asylum-seeker processing facility on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea

And so the Labor government did a reset - emptying the centres and bringing migrants to Australia, before trying again. This time adding a promise that anyone seeking asylum in Australia by boat would never be settled here, even if they were found to be a refugee.

That didn't seem to slow the number of boats either, Ms Gleeson says.

And so when the Liberal-National coalition took over in late 2013, they pivoted to boat turnbacks - something which Labor had opposed - and the number of migrant boat arrivals dropped dramatically.

The measures had "restored integrity to Australia's borders", said Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in 2015 - but at a price. Best estimates put the cost at A$1bn (552.4m, $658.7m) a year. There's also the compensation bills the government has footed for the poor treatment asylum seekers have suffered in offshore processing facilities.

Image source, Getty Images

A "Welcome Refugees" rally in Sydney on 29 September 2013

"And then there's a cost on the heart and soul of Australia," says Dr Huynh.

Australia's treatment of people in offshore detention, particularly children, has drawn international condemnation - the UN says it amounts to torture.

And the country has also been accused of violating international law by breaking its obligations to refugees and those seeking asylum.

Would similar measures work in the UK?

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has conceded the latest plans push "the boundaries of international law". And Australia's former foreign minister and diplomat Alexander Downer - who has advised the UK government on border policy - has admitted the country would have to change its laws and wind back human rights protections to employ the policies effectively.

Ultimately, says Ms Gleeson, the UK will likely have a harder time implementing its proposed policies than Australia did. The UK is also a "totally different place" from Australia, she adds.

Australia also has agreements with several of the countries from where migrants travel, but France has made it clear that such an agreement with the UK is unlikely.

Then there is scale. Even in the peak year of 2013, the total number of boat arrivals in Australia was less than half the current UK annual figure - and they overwhelmed the country's processing system.

"If it was too much for us, how [is the UK] going to have the capacity to do it?" Ms Gleeson says.

And perhaps most critically - she says - while Australia is a signatory to international treaties, it has no legally binding human rights framework, similar to the UK's Human Rights Act or the European Convention on Human Rights. "So I think there is going to be a real legal issue."

Additional reporting by Paul Kerley

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How Australia wrote the 'stop the boats' playbook - BBC

A previously deported MS-13 gang member was arrested Sunday after trying to illegally enter the U.S. through California, officials said.

Two individuals were spotted trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border just east of the Calexico Port of Entry around 6:40 p.m., U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

U.S. Border Patrol agentsdetermined that neither individual had the proper documents to be in the U.S. legally and placed them both under arrest.

Record checks at the El Centro Sector Processing Center confirmed the 26-year-old man arrested was a documented member of the MS-13 street gang, officials said.

BIDEN ADMIN SCALING BACK DETENTION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, EVEN AMID MIGRANT SURGE

The 26-year-old documented MS-13 gang member was previously deported in 2016, officials said.

He also has prior immigration violations and was previously deported from the U.S. in 2016.

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Both individuals will be processed for removal from the U.S., officials said.

"The El Centro Sector agents make life rough on felonious gang members who want to make our country their home," said El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino. "Well do our utmost for the taxpayer to ensure such predators are kept from harming American citizens as is so often the case."

ICE DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS DROPPING SHARPLY UNDER BIDEN

Border Patrol agentsat the southern border have encountered more than one million illegal migrants so far since the beginning of the fiscal year in October, CBP officials said Monday.

It marks the latest milestone in an enormous migrant crisis that has engulfed the border for over two years.

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There were just 400,000 Border Patrol encounters in FY 2020, which then shot up to 1.6 million in FY 21 and 2.2 million in FY 22.

Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:
Border agents in California arrest previously deported MS-13 gang member - Yahoo News

A group of Liberian irregular migrants was among the latest victims of Greeces controversial pushback practice earlier this week. Four among them were found dead.

Rescued by the Turkish coast guard after Greece pushed their boat back into Turkish waters in the Aegean Sea on March 14, three women among the migrants said they would not have "survived if it was not for rescuers.

The coast guard spotted 56 irregular migrants aboard a rubber boat off the coast of Kuadas, a resort town in the western Turkish province of Aydn. The victims were taken ashore, visibly shaken by the experience. Julie Johnson, a 23-year-old pregnant Liberian woman among the survivors, told reporters on Friday that Greek forces intercepted them and started hitting migrants aboard their boat.

"I was screaming please do not kill me but they pushed me into the water. My husband threw me a life vest and I started swimming. I saw a Turkish gendarmerie on (the Turkish) shore from afar and started shouting for help. They took me to the coast and later to the hospital. I am grateful. If it were not for them, I wouldnt be alive, she said, narrating her ordeal.

Meanwhile,19-year-old Destiny Gekor said Greek sea police took all her possessions, including money and cell phone. "They then started hitting my stomach. I begged them to stop and cried. They pushed others into the sea, she said. "I saw a friend dying, she said amid tears. Gekor thanked Turkish officials for coming to their rescue and treating them for their wounds.

Hawa Johnson, an eight-month pregnant woman, 25, said she told Greek police she was pregnant, and they should not hit her but they shoved her and pushed her into the water.

Trkiye is a critical transit route for asylum-seekers hoping to cross into Europe in search of better lives, especially those fleeing war and prosecution in the larger Middle East and Northern Africa. Both human rights groups and media outlets have widely documented Greeces human rights breaches and violent anti-migrant policy.

Ankara too has repeatedly condemned Athens illegal practice of pushing back asylum-seekers, stressing that it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children. While the Turkish coast guard has come to the rescue of thousands sent back by Greek authorities, countless others died at sea as boats full of refugees sank or capsized, especially in the Aegean Sea where both countries share a border.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded nearly 2,000 migrants dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea last year. A report by Trkiyes Ombudsman Institution said in July 2022 that Greece has pushed back nearly 42,000 migrants since 2020. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16, 2022, the Turkish Coast Guard Commands Aegean Command Station saved 47,498 irregular migrants in 1,550 separate cases across its areas of responsibility, over 18,000 of whom were victims of Greeces pushback policy.

Athens consistently denies the accusations despite abundant migrant testimonies, media evidence and international scrutiny. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis government since coming into office in 2019 has vowed to make his country "less attractive to asylum-seekers.

The migrant crisis in the Aegean and the broader Mediterranean remains unsolved.

Original post:
Pushed back by Greece, migrants saved by Trkiye recall ordeal | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

Malta has taken in just one irregular migrant from the sea so far this year as the number of arrivals to Italy has tripled, according to data from the UN and the Italian interior ministry.

The UNs Mediterranean operational portal shows that one person landed in Malta compared with 20,535 in Italy, which is three times as many as in the same period in 2022.

Sources said this person needed to be medically evacuated from a vessel.

I cannot exclude that Malta is [also] managing to lobby for effective interception on land in places like Al-Khums- Mark Micallef, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Malta has been accused of not doing enough to help migrants in distress at sea but geographical factors and a change in how governments are tackling the migrant crisis are also contributing factors, according to experts.

Geography plays a big part, explained Mark Micallef, director of the North Africa and Sahel Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Malta is impacted by the flows of migrants that depart from spots in Libya that are to the east of Tripoli, whereas Italy is affected mostly by spots to the west... the locations on the west of Tripoli are a lot more active, he said.

I cannot exclude that Malta is [also] managing to lobby for effective interception on land in places like Al-Khums [a Libyan coastal city east of Tripoli], he added.

Italys surge in numbers is largely due to the three days between March 9-11 when as many as 4,566 people landed.

Maurice Stiel from Alarm Phone, a hotline for refugees in distress in the Mediterranean, agrees that more crossings are being attempted from Tunisia but believes the main factor is Maltas systematic non-assistance policy.

Migrant boats nowadays are trying to cross the Maltese search and rescue zone in order to reach Lampedusa or even Sicily, which of course prolongs journeys and makes them more dangerous.

Migrants trying to escape from northern Africa, especially Libya, seem to be aware that they cannot rely on any assistance coming from Malta, he added.

Tamino Bohm, tactical coordinator for search and rescue NGO Sea Watch, also believes the small number of migrants is due to a lack of action on the part of Maltese authorities.

This is not a new trend and is connected to the current policies of the government, he said, observing that aircraft belonging to Armed Forces Malta (AFM) remain very active in southern waters and are passing information to the Libyan coastguard.

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Ive been doing this job for over six years, and the last time I saw the AFM rescue someone was so long ago I cant remember, he added, stressing that the number of migrants crossing the Maltese search and rescue zone had not changed.

In December, Times of Malta reported that according to NGO Sea Eye, Maltas Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) had instructed two merchant ships to ignore 45 people in distress at sea, warning in an email to one vessel that a rescue would be considered an interception on the high seas a crime under international law.

The government never says why a rescue was not attempted, who took the decision and what the criteria was... They need to justify their decision

Earlier this month, Malta hosted a meeting of ministers from five EU Mediterranean states, at which a more hardline approach focused on prevention and repatriation was discussed.

Last week, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told parliament that Malta was continuing to insist that people traffickers must be countered, and the sea must be more intensively patrolled.

However, Neil Falzon, director of human rights NGO Aditus Foundation, called on the government to provide more information on why rescues are not attempted.

I dont think a state should measure success by people not turning up due to dying, he said, calling for more accountability.

The government never says why a rescue was not attempted, who took the decision and what the criteria was... They need to justify their decision this isnt a migration issue, its a democratic issue.

Some 375 people have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean as of March 19, according to the UN. As of Tuesday, a total of 27,532 migrants had arrived in Europe via countries in the so-called Med5 group, a group of Mediterranean countries who meet to discuss shared regional issues such as migration.

Most migrants arrived in Italy, with Spain the next largest recipient at 3,748 arrivals. Greece was next with 3,216, followed by Cyprus with 549 and finally Malta with one arrival.

When pressed for details as to why only one migrant has arrived in the country so far this year compared to the relatively high number of arrivals seen in other countries, the government did not respond.

Last year, there were 444 sea arrivals a 47 per cent decrease on 2021 arrivals with the majority of boats departing from Libya.

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Link:
Malta has rescued just one migrant this year as numbers in Italy ... - Times of Malta