Immigration
Don’t Be Fooled by the Fearmongering Around the Border: Part 2
Funding enforcement will not help our communities
By Martin Kim and Paul Estuar
We were looking for the area where hundreds of Chinese immigrants had been kept at a time, without shelter or food…as we walked along the steel bollard fencing that made up this portion of the border wall, we noticed that people had left their mark, literally, on the rusty red bollards, leaving messages or their names in Simplified Chinese.
This is the second entry in a three-part series on Asian Americans and the southern border. Read part one and three.
As you weigh Asian American history against new stories of Asian immigrants at the border, a simple question may have crossed your mind: why are there suddenly so many immigrants at the southern border?
The reasons for migrating, including for immigrants from Asia, are the same as they always have been: a desire for freedom, safety, democracy, and economic prosperity. Changing conditions in certain countries have led to changes in immigrant demographics. Many countries are currently feeling the pressures of repressive regimes and stagnating economies. However, our immigration laws have not responded to the changing world and have remained the same for decades, so the pathways that were open to us, our parents, or ancestors are no longer viable. Family-based pathways that were once relatively quick now can take over a decade. As just one example, Chinese immigrants with approved family petitions who applied 3 to 17 years ago are only now eligible to receive family-based visas.
So, when it is difficult to access other pathways of immigration, those desperate to leave their home countries will choose the other avenues available to them, like asylum. Contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal to seek asylum at the border. The increased pressures leading people to leave their home countries combined with the difficulty securing other pathways into the U.S. has led to a change in current migration patterns.
There has been an over 5,300% increase in the number of CBP encounters of Chinese migrants at the southern border between FY21 and FY23 (450 to 24,314), and the number of encounters of Indian migrants has increased by over 1,500% in the same period (2,588 to 41,770). Still, Asian migration to the border is a tiny fraction of the overall flow to our southern border, yet has received outsized attention.
Knowing the underlying and complex reasons that people immigrate to the U.S. helps us understand why border enforcement and deterrence policies are not “solutions.” Framing these policies as “solutions” explicitly presents immigration as a problem instead of a value that we share as a nation of immigrants. It ignores the root causes of increased migration to the southern border and merely feeds into the fearmongering around recent arrivals that we’ve seen take over this issue. Nevertheless, some policymakers have suggested that the only way to address these changing migration patterns is to increase funding for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). That might seem reasonable at first glance. CBP is responsible for maintaining and regulating entry into the U.S., after all.
Unfortunately, increasing funding for Customs and Border Patrol is a catastrophic mistake.
CBP as an agency cannot be trusted with that level of authority. It is common knowledge that CBP officers are not held accountable for abuse, corruption, or incompetence. Hundreds of people have died in CBP custody over the past decade, with Black and brown communities suffering disproportionately.
Moreover, almost two-thirds of the U.S. population live in the 100-mile border zone where CBP officers hold additional powers, because the borderlands include our coastal areas and our border with Canada. This border zone already includes whole cities like Seattle, New York, New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco, Richmond, and Detroit. That means 200 million people will live under the surveillance and authority of CBP, including millions of Asian Americans. It means 200 million people subject to the whims of an unregulated, incompetent, uncontrollable agency.
With the rise in anti-Asian and anti-Chinese sentiment among policymakers, funding an agency known to be abusive is a recipe for disaster.
If funding CBP isn’t the answer, what can we do instead?
The next blog will explore what we saw when we went to the southern border and offer real solutions and how you can get involved.
Martin Kim is the Director of Immigration Advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Paul Estuar is the Director of Litigation at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL).
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC has a mission to advance the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. Visit our website at advancingjustice-aajc.org.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Founded in 1983, AJSOCAL supports over 15,000 individuals and organizations annually. By offering free legal help, engaging in impact litigation, conducting crucial research, and advocating for policy change, AJSOCAL prioritizes the most vulnerable members of AAPI communities while fostering a robust advocacy for civil rights and social justice. Offices are in downtown Los Angeles and Orange County, with satellite offices in Sacramento, ensuring accessibility for all. www. AJSOCAL.org
