Smith: Asylum Claims

So, a federal judge in Washington, DC has struck down the Trump decree halting asylum claims on the southern border. Weren’t they already halted? Isn’t that why so many migrant shelters have closed?

For several months now I have been delivering food and clothing to the Respettrans migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, one of the few shelters still open. In the process, I have gotten to know the three women who are in charge there, Ana Correa, the mother and Emily, her daughter from Michoacán, Mexico, and Mariselda from Guatemala. They usually go with us to the Gonzalez grocery store a few blocks away where we can buy much needed food – fresh chicken, rice, cooking oil, potatoes and other vegetables. 

They have been waiting almost a year for an asylum hearing. In fact, when I visited on June 13, Emily showed me Zamary, her baby who had been born just eight days earlier. From conception to birth in a migrant shelter!

What has happened to them is what I would call a violation of the Thomas Friedman principle of “We Need a High Wall with a Big Gate on Our Southern Border.” New York Times, April 14, 2021.

Friedman said: “I wish we could take in everyone suffering in the world and give each a shot at the American dream, but we can’t while maintaining our social cohesion, which is already fraying badly enough. So, making immigration policy today require a tough-minded balance between hardheartedness and compassion.” He added: “Because so many Americans will think that the border is open and out of control, they will elect leaders who will choke off all immigration, which is the lifeblood of our country. Have no doubt, a seemingly out-of-control border would be a godsend for the Trump GOP.”

In other words, we should stop those who are crossing illegally but also be fair to those who are obeying the law by applying for asylum. This has been particularly true for at least a year now. The numbers of those coming to our border began dropping dramatically by mid-2024, months before the election.

I blame President Biden for being so slow to recognize the volatility of this issue but by mid 2024, he had

Successfully negotiated an agreement with Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to tighten controls over Mexico’s southern border.

• Made the asylum process more restrictive.
• Prosecuted high level cartel leaders like Genaro García Luna who received a 38-year sentence in a US District Court in New York in October 2024.
• Via ICE, deported more migrants than Trump did in any of the four years of his first presidency. 
• Pushed for much needed additional Border Patrol agents, hearing officers for asylum cases, and technology to detect drugs in large vehicles.
• His Border Patrol, despite the lack of new funding, took a number of positive steps like the installation of more autonomous surveillance towers. I’m told that the use of these towers in the Big Bend area of Texas almost totally eliminated illegal crossings.
• Even though Biden lost the PR battle badly and thus the election, he set the stage for Trump to declare victory and claim correctly that illegal border crossings had been almost totally eliminated. Yes, there were some additional steps like the termination of the “catch and release” policy but this “victory” could have then allowed for a restructuring and continuation of the asylum process, in part as a way of showing that if you follow the law and attempt to enter our country legally, you will be given a fair shot.  

That hasn’t happened obviously and migrants like Emily Correa, her baby, Zamary and her family will continue to wait in limbo in Juárez. But is this the best way to make America great again? Shouldn’t we show respect to those who follow the law? Does it make sense to lump together the guilty and the innocent? I don’t think so.

Editor's Note: The above column was penned by Morgan Smith, a writer who has been traveling to the border twice a month to assist programs like Respettrans and to document conditions there. He can be reached at Morgan-smith@comcast.net.