Joe Biden was elected president in part because of his promises to address our nation’s indefensible inability, and unwillingness, to improve our immigration problems. As Biden nears the midpoint of his term, most of those promises remain unfulfilled.
The president has announced an end to some immigration restrictions that were imposed by the previous administration, but court orders have kept those restrictions in place. Some were eased only to be reinstituted because we can’t handle the backlog of people waiting to enter this country — a backlog that grows every day.
We have to do something; our country’s wellbeing depends on it.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the Rio Grande Valley, where immigration restrictions threaten major hits to our local economy. Farmers are struggling to hire workers. Valley shrimpers have warned that we might not have a shrimp harvest this year, as their inability to find deck hands and the high price of fuel could keep their trawlers docked.
Our need to restore the flow of immigrants into this country is an obvious truth, especially here in the Valley. Unfortunately, we can’t handle the truth.
To be sure, our biggest immigration problem is Congress’ inability to rectify outdated and ineffective immigration policy. Unfortunately, that won’t change anytime soon, as too many Congress members hold irrational fears of people who don’t look like they do — the political descendants of those who opposed Irish, Asian and Italian immigrants in days past.
However, some fixes don’t need congressional action other than funding allocations.
We can start by gathering the right information. Talk to people who deal with our migrants, both those who are admitted and those who don’t. Officials also must acknowledge that some reform promises can’t be kept, at least for the short term.
While many have screamed about the inhumanity of Gov. Greg Abbott decision to bus migrants out of Texas, volunteers who work with the migrants acknowledge that they willingly boarded the buses because they brought them closer to families and sponsors whom they want to join in northern states.
Detention centers that dotted the Valley and other border areas in recent years were seen as human warehouses and shut down. However, opening shelters in northern areas would give immigrants places to stay until they are united with their sponsors, provided workers learn from the problems of the past and ensure that families are kept together and their basic needs are met.
Most importantly, we must attack the case backlog by processing applications faster. Find ways to streamline the process and reduce red tape; hire more people to process cases and more immigration judges to consider them. Once the backlog is reduced, that staffing also can be reduced accordingly so that those who deserve to live here can do so and begin working and contributing to our society. Likewise, those who don’t belong here should be removed quickly and efficiently.
Keeping immigrants at bay does nothing to address the problem. Once we are able to process properly those who wish to enter our country, many of our other immigration problems will be reduced as well.
