A few weeks ago, all Republicans — and in turn, the White House press corps — could talk about was the border crisis. As thousands of migrant children arrived at our southern border after fleeing life-threatening conditions in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Republicans claimed that President Biden — even though he repeatedly warned migrants not to come to the United States — was the reason for people sending their kids to travel thousands of miles under dangerous conditions.
The administration was caught flat-footed by the issue, but it made clear that the number of arrivals kept pace with the usual seasonal trends plus some pent-up demand to leave Central America due to two hurricanes and the pandemic. Biden officials vowed to get things under control.
For a brief moment, the issue shook the White House so much that it declined to raise the cap on refugee admissions (an entirely different program with a different population of people) beyond the prior administration’s unconscionably low 15,000. Democrats and immigration advocates rightly flipped out; the White House then “clarified” that the cap would increase substantially, but noted that it would take time because Biden’s predecessor had left the system in shambles.
Biden continued to emphasize publicly and repeatedly that these migrants should not come. The administration organized a Spanish-language outreach program in the Central American countries. On NBC News last week, he said, “Do not send your kids, period,” and added that children would be “in jeopardy” making the thousand-mile trek. He explained that “we’re going back to those countries in question where most of it’s coming from and saying, ‘Look, you can apply from your country. You don’t have to make this trek.’”
But for the most part, immigration seems to have disappeared from media coverage. What happened? CNN on Friday thankfully caught us up to speed: “The number of unaccompanied migrant children held in jail-like conditions by US Customs and Border Protection dropped nearly 84% in the span of a month, according to a White House official, underscoring the significant progress made by the administration after reaching record high custody figures.” Moreover, there has been “a nearly 80% reduction in time spent in Border Patrol detention.”
The number of migrants is still at historic highs, but so long as these children are processed swiftly and humanely and given a chance at a far better life than what they fled, is it a “crisis”? Think of it this way: Instead of saying: “In March, the Border Patrol apprehended 18,663 unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border, up from the previous month, according to the agency’s data,” it would be more accurate to say, “In March, the Border Patrol rescued 18,663 unaccompanied minors fleeing life-threatening conditions, the overwhelming majority of whom were quickly processed and placed in appropriate settings.”
The administration is facing a crisis — two, in fact. And it is working on both. The first is that the violence, hunger and damage from hurricanes in Central America remains so bad that children are forced to flee. Vice President Harris has been meeting with the Northern Triangle countries to address the underlying problems that cause the mass migration and working on ways to abet the suffering. She is also trying to involve other countries, such as Finland and Japan, to find solutions and provide international assistance to the Northern Triangle. She has been intensifying coordination with humanitarian groups, too. There is no easy fix.
The second crisis was overcrowded facilities in the United States. Biden’s team has certainly made progress, although it has scarcely been in the news. On Friday, for the first time in weeks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the issue during a press gaggle on Air Force One:
Q: Jen, also, the number of minors in CBP detention facilities has really gone down.MS. PSAKI: Yep.Q: Does that mean — is the administration going to pull FEMA out of that process of building up temporary HHS facilities, given hurricane season is approaching?MS. PSAKI: Sure. That’s an excellent question. I think — I will check with FEMA and check with our team to see if there’s a consideration of that. But right now, the work is ongoing. As you know, there’s still more work to be done. Let me just provide, though, an update, since I know you follow this closely, but just for others.So, as of a month ago, there were 5,667 [sic] — 5,767 children in CBP custody. There are now 954, as of new numbers that we’ve received. As of a month ago ... kids were in CBP custody for about 133 hours; it’s now 28 hours. So, there has been some progress that has been made, as you referred to.
She conceded, “There’s more work to be done. We’re continuing to work to expedite kids moving to family members and to sponsor homes.”
Notice that Republicans seem to have lost interest in the subject, too. They are onto imaginary hamburger bans, phony accusations that Harris’s book is getting distributed at detention centers and, sadly, discouraging people from getting vaccinations.
The United States has yet to ameliorate the conditions that force parents to send their children here, but it is providing safe haven for thousands of children. It goes to show that if operated competently and compassionately, our immigration system can work both to defend U.S. security and to live up to our image as a beacon of democracy and decency.
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