Category Archives: Immigration and Refugees

The Immigration and Asylum System is Broken

March 20, 20242024 Trip to South West United States, Immigration and Refugeesmeanderer007

Liberals, such as Democrats in the US, are failing to see the problems with immigration and conservatives and populists and authoritarians are getting ready to pounce on this election issue again, as they did in 2016 in the US. That issue helped spur Trump’s surprising victory in the race for the American presidency. From the first day of that campaign when Trump came down the escalator in gaudy Trump tower and lambasted Mexican illegal immigrants as rapists and murderers is message has resonated with people. Conservatives, including populists and authoritarians, have been successful in latching on to the issue of immigration around the world. Fareed Zakaria, an astute political analyst, is warning Democrats that the issue of immigration could “cripple their chances at the polls” in the upcoming national elections in the US.” Why is that?

It is true that the US Republicans are taking advantage of this problem and keep hammering the Democrats for what they call their policies of open borders. Such rhetoric plays well with nearly everyone, because virtually no one wants open borders. Most Americans think the Republicans, led by Trump are better able to deal with what they see as chaos at the border.

According to Zakaria it is more than that however. He says the other reason Democrats are getting hammered in the US is that “their [Democrats] policies are wrong. Grossly inadequate to the challenge at hand. Apprehensions at the southern border are surging again.”

The borders across the US are bending as they encounter waves of arrivals that seem well beyond the ability of American border agents to effectively deal with. As Zakaria said, “Now that American cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C., local governments there are facing back-breaking expenses to house them.” They frankly don’t know what to do.

Of course, as I have said before, such expenses should be born by the federal government and not state governments. Immigration, whether legal or illegal is a national issue and costs should be paid by the nation, not the states which are being inundated. That is painfully unfair.

As Zakaria said, “New York city Mayor Eric Adams was exaggerating only slightly when he said, this problem will destroy the city.”

If Republicans are able to persuade Americans that these problems have been exacerbated by weak policies of the Biden administration and states with Democratic governors or Democratic led state governments, this issue could drown Democratic leaders around the US. There are few issues more amenable to Populist manipulation and fear-mongering than images of chaos at borders and massive impositions of expenses upon receiving states, provinces, or governments.

According to Zakaria, “the Biden administration proposals have amounted to band-aids on a massive open wound.” Similar arguments are being made by populist opponents of existing government around the world.

America Can Do Better

March 19, 20242024 Trip to South West United States, 2024 Trip to Southwest USA, Immigration and Refugeesmeanderer007

We have been living in Arizona for nearly 3 months now and immigration is on everyone’s minds. That doesn’t mean they are thinking about it, but they are complaining about it. The complaints are ubiquitous. Thoughts are mostly absent.

First, one thing nearly everybody agrees on is that border reform is urgently needed. In the spring of last year many feared the US was going to have an unmanageable border crisis at the southern border. The government was about to lose the ability to quickly dispel migrants at the border because of the Title 42 provisions that were implemented by Trump in March of 2020 that allowed the Americans to do that as a pandemic prevention measure. At least Trump referred to the measures that way. By 2023 the pandemic restrictions everywhere were being lifted so really this had to go too.

Biden had a plan. He imposed measures that were designed to deal with the expected problem. He imposed stiff penalties for illegal crossings such as a deportation and a 5-year ban on any re-entry. He also expanded the ways asylum seekers could apply for legal asylum from their home countries. Amazingly, this plan actually worked. Encounters at the border dropped by one third! Numbers dropped from about 7,100 per day to 4,800 per day.

As Fareed Zakaria, someone who actual thinks about what is happening on the border said in a Washington Post article, “It was a welcome case of well-designed policy making a difference.”

But then the Democrats took their eye off the ball. They thought the problem was solved. Border problems are never solved that easily. As Republicans learned but rarely admitted, their “solutions” did not solve the problems either. Border problems are wicked problems that require long-term hard-fought for solutions.

As Zakaria pointed out

“But this success does not change the fact that the U.S. immigration system is broken. The crush at the southern border might be less than anticipated, but it is still an influx, and its effects are being felt across the nation. Texas, overwhelmed by the numbers, has bused migrants to cities such as Washington and New York. But the truth is that migrants have been crowding into major American cities, including Chicago, on a scale that is breaking those communities’ capacities to respond.”

A major flaw in the American system is that cities where immigrants arrive are required to pay for the costs of dealing with the immigrants. This is absurd, for the cities are the governments least able to deal with those costs, and more importantly, immigration is a national problem not a city problem. The entire country must chip in to design and pay for a better and more rational system.

And one thing I have learned in my 3 months in America, the Americans are much more interested in yelling at “the other side” and wining political points than in solving this vexing problem. That is a problem.

Racism provided the infrastructure for growth of the far right.

March 17, 20242024 Trip to South West United States, Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Immigration and Refugees, racism, Right-wing Extremismmeanderer007

In their book and their talk to us at Arizona State University, Ware and Hoffman point out how much members of these domestic terrorist movements learned from each other. The Internet of course has made such self-education much easier than it had ever been before. And as they said, racism provided the infrastructure for the amplification of their ideas.

During the Obama presidency another major battlefield arose that would have profound effects on the United States, Canada, and in fact, the world. This was the establishment of social media that provided the fuel, the bombast, and the energy for profound political and social change. We still don’t know how this will end. We have no idea.

As Professor Ware said in his talk, “the Obama administration faced the rapid almost blitzkrieg emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.” This was very important for the development and normalization of the far right. It was supercharged by social media. ISIS showed how powerful social media can be. A small extremist group in a very short time grew into an organization that scared the entire western world. That could never have happened without social media. Social media was the powerful engine of modern far right terrorism.

The rise of ISIS led to an enormous increase of immigration into Europe which then was used by far-right extremists in Europe and around the world to amplify their movement. They latched onto the great replacement theory to enlist support virtually everywhere. They blamed the far left for trying to replace the white citizens with immigrants from countries around the world, but often with brown or black skinned people from places the whites had often not even heard of. No place in the world it seemed was immune to the invitations to hate the immigrants.

Immigration to many right-wing extremists, around the world was the key issue to justify their cause. Immigration was the issue that bonded Donald Trump and Steve Bannon into a dramatic force and is being used again in the start of the 2024 presidential election campaign. Immigration allows the right to pick scapegoats for every aspect as of the far-right agenda. It is impossible to imagine the far-right without immigration as a grievance.

Immigration at borders invariably is used to fire up domestic support for populist causes. It is usually the easiest cause to latch onto by populist leaders. Dissatisfaction with immigration is often the glue that holds together diverse unhappy actors into a powerful force for violent change.

Nowhere does it do that more than Arizona where we are currently living. Mention immigration and you are bound to obtain heated discussion.

Solutions not Stunts

January 22, 20242018 Trip to Ottawa, 2024 Trip to South West United States, 2024 Trip to Southwest USA, Immigration and Refugeesmeanderer007

President Joe Biden, early in his presidency, presented a comprehensive plan for immigration reform. When he did that, he acknowledged the current system is broken. Everyone agrees it is broken, but how to fix? Not so easy.

I think that is the right approach. But it must be bi-partisan. I don’t know if it is or not. But it is such a big problem both sides of the House must work together to fix it. Solutions must be real. Not just stunts like sending asylum seekers to “Sanctuary Cities” in the north. Democrats should stop declaring them. They are unhelpful. And the entire country must pay the costs, not merely states on the border or states where all the asylum seekers and immigrants want to go. States and cities can’t afford to pay the costs. The federal government should pay the real cost.

Republicans claim Democrats want open borders. I don’t think that is true. Obama was known as the Deporter-in-Chief. He just did not brag about it like Trump. But he deported a lot of people.

Frankly, I think most politicians, on both sides, don’t really want to deal with the problems. They prefer stunts, because they are much easier than the hard work of real reform and real solutions. It is much easier to get sound bites for stunts. Stunts and harangues seem attractive to the voters, so they get the politicians they deserve.

Better Thinking Needed on the Border

January 12, 20242024 Trip to South West United States, Critical thinking, Immigration and Refugeesmeanderer007

Around the breakfast table in our hotel in Salina Kansas, we watched the ubiquitous Fox News channel since it seemed to be permanently selected at every hotel in the American Midwest. We have found from our friends that winter in Arizona, this is the land of Trump. Trump believers are everywhere. As a result, we learned that there was massive illegal migration at the border. 300,000 people from around the world were trying to get into the US across the Mexican border. By no means were these only Mexicans. Particularly at the Rio Grande, where the US was unable to build a wall,” hordes of people,” according to Fox were trying to cross illegally. Fox does not acknowledge that some of these people have the legitimate right to make asylum claims.

We also learned from Fox that many of the illegals were using false ID papers to pose as minors so they could stay with their families. Fox always emphasizes that the “Illegal immigrants,” as they call them all, cannot be trusted and should be feared. Every time I watch Fox, they are filling Americans with fear about the “hordes” at the border. This is very effective at stoking the fears of Americas. In fact, every side in the immigration disputes arouses fear about the others. Every side in the debate—and there are many—pitches an implicit ideology. For example, that migrants are scary or that people who think borders should be controlled are racist bigots. Life is more complicated than that.

Fox also claimed that 700,000 illegal immigrants get full medical benefits to which ordinary American working people are not entitled. I have heard versions of this story many times. Immigrants, illegal or not, immediately get more rights than Americans. I have also heard on CNN that this is not true. Where is the truth? Sometimes truth seems very illusive, particularly in heated debates. What is not in doubt however, is that such news fuels hate against immigrants.

This does not mean that we should reject all media. We need good journalism and there is lots of it out there, though, of course, there is also much fake news. That does not make everything fake news as Trump and his Trumpsters often suggest. It does mean that each of us must use our skills of critical thinking and judgment to weigh the evidence in favor of or opposed to these narratives. Fox also claimed that in many states immigrants, even illegal immigrants, get ‘instate tuition’ rates unlike most non-residents? Is that true? I don’t know.

Both Republican and Democrat administrations are to blame for the problems on the border, though, of course, each side blames the other. The Republicans have not wanted to spend any money to solve the problem. They don’t want to “waste” money on paying to adjudicate asylum claims at the border so they drag on interminably. The result is that asylum seekers often wait a decade to have their cases heard while they live in the US as undocumented visitors. During this time, they often create families, making immigration issues even more complicated. At times, the Democrats would not pay any serious heed to controlling the border. Sometimes it seems ike they even welcome the true illegal immigrants at the border. Though Barack Obama, of all people, was known as the “Deporter-in-Chief, the position Trump longed for. Underfunding of border facilities has made it impossible to deal with the large numbers that have been appearing and help to present images that scare people in America.

Just like we must look critically at the miracle cures for a legion of ailments that are offered by Fox advertisers, we must look critically at claims they make about immigration, one of their favourite issues. Are there really that many miracle cures out there? Is it true that everyone who appears at the border is untrustworthy? All sides in important public issues such as immigration, must use critical thinking to weigh the evidence and arguments. As well we must not do what Trump says he does—i.e. trust his gut. The gut really doesn’t do much effective thinking. Neither do hunches, feelings, or guesses.

Better thinking is what we need to tackle all important social issues, and too often, that seems in very short supply.

Immigration: A Bloody Mess

January 10, 20242024 Trip to South West United States, Immigration and Refugeesmeanderer007

As we drove towards the southern USA, Christiane and I frequently listened to National Public Radio (NPR). One day weI listened to an interesting discussion on immigration. This is always a hot subject in American politics. It energizes a lot of people both on the left and the right. Americans love to complain about what the other side is doing or failing to do on this issue. It is considered a major problem for the country but no one tries to fix it. Everyone wants to complain instead. That is much more fun. Added to that, both sides want to score political points by blaming the other side for the problem when really both sides are to blame. As a result, of course, nothing does get done. And the complaints continue to pile up. That makes for a wicked problem that seems impossible to solve.

Meanwhile asylum seekers in the US are told on arrival to the U.S. to contact the Department of Homeland Security. When they follow those instructions, they are told the Department will respond to them and they should wait. They should wait patiently. The asylum seekers typically have to wait between 4 and 5 years, for a response to their request for asylum. Only after that is an adjudication hearing held. Then, if the asylum claim is denied, the seeker can appeal the decision and this will likely result in another 5 years of delay. Meanwhile the asylum seekers have a decade to live in the country and become what Israeli’s call a fact on the ground. They are there. There is no denying this. Meanwhile those asylum seekers may hold jobs and have children while in the U.S. The children might become American citizens and can’t be separated from their parents.

Meanwhile how can the United States think of itself as a civilized country when it seems to be operating without honour?

What is the result? A bloody mess.

The Mennonite Pharisee and the Polish Samaritan

May 14, 2022Fear, Fellow Feeing, Immigration and Refugees, War in Ukraine (2022)meanderer007

Refugee crises are invariably wicked problems. Every country wants to control its own borders. No country just wants to open the gates completely wide. After all, what good would it do to let countries be completely swamped? No one benefits when anarchy is spread everywhere.

On the other hand, most countries want to help, particularly their neighbours. But that is not always easy to do.

What we need is calm and compassionate consideration and temperate with rationality. That is not an easy task.

Turning our backs on the refugees is not the answer for most of us. Most of us don’t want to be Pharisees. We don’t want to turn our back on the poor soul mired in the mud or lying on the ground. But how can we help? Destroying our lives and those of our loved ones is also not the answer. What is the answer? The first thing that is sure, is the answer is not simple. Miriam Toews was right. Kindness is complicated. As a result we will make mistakes.

Melissa Martin in her Winnipeg Free Press article said she did not believe that the way we deal with difficult refugee problems is inevitable. we must make choices. Yet Poland has shown to us what is possible if we work together. Big problems can be solved. Only with teamwork would it be possible for a small country to do what Poland has done in accepting 2.5 million refugees.

People on all sides tend to oversimplify problems and their solutions. As she said,

“News, often, has an unfortunate way of flattening places and events into a narrow focus without nuance, without texture. In one such narrative, Poland becomes all good; in another, its treatment of largely Muslim asylum-seekers caught on the border, it’s all bad.

The reality is, of course, is that it’s neither. Yes, it’s in Poland where a border dispute has forced people to suffer in limbo, but it’s also in Poland where activists and aid groups risk everything to get food and warm clothes to the people huddled at the Belarusian border. Some have been caught by police and taken before a judge; still, their brave and ferociously loving work continues.”

Poland has shown us clouds from both sides. They have shown us the best of people, but have also shown a dark side. I remember when my own Member of Parliament—presumably a good Mennonite—showed us what the Pharisees were like. When people from Central and South America were trying to enter Canada because they feared what Trump and his cronies would do to them, and fled here across a frozen Red River, he told us to fear these refugees and complained that our Prime Minister was opening the borders wide. That was very different from the Poles that Martin described in her article. People living near the border sneaked into the woods to hang bundles of aid in the trees even though they were threatened by the police. One of them told the New York Times, “no one will die in my forest.” There was the Good Samaritan—the good neighbour. My pious member of Parliament looked down on the hapless people freezing in the cold, and urged us to do the same. on the other hand, Martin described how volunteers in Emerson in the winter of 2017 when there was an unprecedented wave of people walking across the border north into Canada from the US tried to make sure no one froze to death. More good neighbours.

As Melissa Martin said,

“The bad in the world, and in people, speaks in cruelty and destruction. But if you want to see the good in people, you will find it in the same place, and from there you can see the foundations of bridges that are waiting to be built. The lesson of Poland’s refugee crisis — not two, but one — is that the good is ever-present, waiting for an invitation to happen.”

Each of us can choose to be a Pharisee or a Samaritan. And we may have the chance to make that choice more than once. One time we can be a Samaritan and the next a Pharisee. It’s all up to us.

The Meanderer

The opinions and photos of John E. Neufeld as he meanders through life