We Can’t Wait Any Longer to Make Changes at the Border
The incoming Biden administration signaled that they would be taking a slower route to fix the problems on the border that was created by the Trump administration most notably the thousands that are stranded in Mexico as they await for their asylum hearings and a chance to be reunited with their families. It is also due to COVID concerns that they have been slow to act. Unfortunately, the Mexican government and even some U.S. based NGOs working in the camp are not adequately relaying the realities of the people inside the camp. This is dangerous as it gives the Biden administration the illusion that they have more time and greatly reduces the urgency of changing the situation.
I have been to the camp numerous times and have made strong friendships with those in the camp. They are telling a much different story than is portrayed in happy photos from the camps or the official statement of the Mexican government on the camps. They describe a situation where the cartels are running while and have control of the Mexican immigration agents. The teenage daughter of one of our friends in the camp was raped by one of these cartel members, but they were too afraid to report to Mexican immigration because of the ramifications of what it would mean.
What is not explained is the fear that parents have, so much fear that they are willing to send their young children across the river with cartel members rather than risk their luck within the camp. There is little discussion about the rats that eat through the flimsy tents or the cold that even infant children have to endure within the camp. There is little discussion of the lack of sanitation or the inability of families to enter the river to even wash their clothes. There is little discussion of the people that have been killed by cartel members for daring to cross the Rio Grande without paying up.
What we are doing is an affront to international policies on refugees and asylum seekers. I applaud the fact that Biden is planning to change the policy, but every day we allow people seeking safety in the U.S. to sit in squalor and danger feet away from our border in Mexico, we are defying human rights and a shame to the global community. Biden must not just act, but act quickly to allow all those who have suffered under the treacherous Remain in Mexico policy to have a fair and prompt asylum hearing. They should also be given consideration and assistance due to what they have gone through due to our immoral policies.
