On Friday, members of Congress came to the border to blame each other for the humanitarian crisis that continues to grow here.
Again.
Republicans, led by Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, were in the Rio Grande Valley touring the river with Border Patrol officers and blaming President Joe Biden for inspiring the thousands of immigrants to come to this country. Democrats were in Carrizo Springs pointing their fingers at the Donald Trump administration for policies that kept more immigrants in detention centers.
This is nothing new; we’ve seen this kind of grandstanding since the first wave of Central American refugees started coming more than 30 — yes, 30 — years ago.
Forget the finger pointing; each party’s officials are just as guilty as the others; over the past three decades each has held the White House, and a majority in each chamber of Congress — sometimes both — at various times.
And nothing has been done.
Enough already. These group campaign trips on the taxpayers’ dime have gotten so common, and so old, that we doubt they’re effective anymore. Each side merely preaches to its own choir and isn’t likely to sway any new people to their side.
Meanwhile, thousands of people, most of them vulnerable women and unaccompanied children, continue to languish in overcrowded detention facilities.
Cynics have speculated that neither major political party has any intention of doing anything about our immigration problem, because they don’t want to lose one of their favorite and most effective campaign topics. And few likely would question their apparent disregard for the countless lives that are destroyed amid their political posturing.
And yet, addressing the immediate problem seems rather simple, albeit difficult and expensive.
To be sure, we recognize that some representatives have offered immigration reform bills, although major omnibus packages are the wrong approach, as proposals on which all sides agree die along with more contentious items that keep the bills from passing. Members should draft smaller, specific bills so that those without opposition can become law while debate continues on the others.
But they first must address the most immediate crisis: the tens of thousands of people suffering in overcrowded detention centers.
Lawmakers need to stop yapping and take two major steps: first, acquire and staff more facilities on a temporary basis — abandoned stores, unused sports arenas or convention centers, as was done in Dallas — to alleviate the overcrowding. But they also must hire more people to process the cases — staffers to move the paperwork and judges to hear the cases. In addition, allowing knowledgeable counsel to assist the migrants should speed up the hearings process.
Yes, all this costs money, but a surge of resources to clear out the detention centers might be less expensive in the long run than the slow bleeding of expenses under prolonged detention.
Most importantly, freeing immigrants from detention has a value we can’t measure.
Enough grandstanding already. Our Congress members need to get back to Washington and do their jobs.
