January 09, 2019

In U.S., no solution in sight for thousands of detained migrants

editor:	Yair Oded

Last night, the U.S. president delivered a speech from the Oval Office in which he ratcheted up demands for funding of his coveted border wall, claiming his administration won’t back down until Congress consents to finance a physical barrier between the United States and Mexico in order to stop the flow of migrants.

Conspicuous among his barrage of distortions and falsehoods was the president’s portrayal of Central American migrants as ruthless criminals who are to blame for a plethora of the nation’s woes – ranging from the opioid epidemic to gun violence and spiking murder rates.

In a mish-mash of half-baked facts and nationalistic rhetoric, the president took yet another step to drum up xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments, describing the situation at the border as a “humanitarian crisis. A crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul.”

There is no doubt that a grave humanitarian crisis is unfolding along the Mexico-U.S. border, yet evidence abounds to suggest that it is the reckless, inhumane immigration policies of the current administration that are to blame for the exacerbation of the crisis.

Death, disease, separation of families, prolonged imprisonment of migrants (including minors) in over-crowded federal detention facilities, and the overwhelming number of volunteer organisations grappling to provide aid can all be attributed to the government’s agenda to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. at all costs.

Across the Southern border, from California to Texas, reports emerge of migrants being held in detention centres designated for short term apprehension of adult single men. Yet, in a failed attempt to deter immigrants from crossing the border, the government’s security and immigration agencies began filling such prisons with women and children as well for extended periods of time. Conditions in such prisons are, as testimonies indicate, utterly horrific. The overcrowding in such facilities is reaching unprecedented levels, with a daily population average of 45,200 single adults and families, according to The New York Times.

The combination of undernourishment, poor access to health services, and freezing temperatures in federal detention centres is proving to be deadly for migrants, and particularly for young children who are more susceptible to disease.

On Christmas Eve, an 8 year-old boy from Guatemala named Felipe Alonzo-Gomez died while in federal custody, evidently from health complications. Felipe was the second child to die under U.S. custody in December of 2018. Alas, such tragedies can only be expected to rise given the harsh conditions in which migrants are held.

In an interview for The New York Times, a 28-year-old Guatemalan migrant named Nelcy recounts the impossibly cold detention facility in which she was held with her two young daughters. “My children got sick. They gave us aluminium blankets, but it wasn’t enough,” says Nelcy, who claims that her daughters fell ill only upon arrival in the ICE detention facility, not during the journey to the United States.

All the while, various volunteer organizations labour to try to provide whatever assistance they can to immigrants. Such groups have opened countless shelters for migrants released from federal custody without any housing solutions; others provide healthcare services or offer free legal services to migrants throughout their immigration trials and proceedings. Such organisations, however, seem to be cracking under the chaos generated by the administration’s erratic and irresponsible directives.

There was one statement made by the president in last night’s speech that was perfectly accurate: the U.S. immigration system is broken; the actions carried out by his government only worsen this deeply flawed system. And so, as the president resorts to fear-mongering and criminalization of migrants, it is crucial that the public remains aware of his dubious tactics and not be distracted by the political charade surrounding this very acute crisis. 

Photo: Border Talk

Read also: Washington Post - Record number of migrant families arrested while crossing U.S. border in December

Fact Check: Truth behind Trump’s border claims

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