The Great Immigration Experiment
When I became an American citizen, my neighbor presented me with a set of whiskey glasses embossed with The Preamble and a card in which she had penned, “Welcome friend and fellow citizen to the Great Experiment.”
Her wry phrase seems appropriate not only for the Republic but also to describe what is occurring today at U.S. borders.
Distinct groups of immigrants are forming. Certain rules apply to asylum seekers from most parts of the globe while special policies have been enacted by the federal government to support evacuated Afghan nationals and people displaced by the war in Ukraine.
I entered the U.S. on a TN NAFTA visa in 2000 and settled in a small-town near Charlotte in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. I eventually got a green card and recently became a naturalized citizen.
When I first arrived in the area, my husband worked in construction. It was not unheard of for co-workers to report changes to their social-security numbers or to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between official ports of entry.
The Council for Foreign Relations reported that until 2013, unauthorized immigrants making this journey were primarily Mexican citizens looking for work. By 2019, 81% of border crossings were attempted by Central Americans seeking asylum. Add to this an even bigger number of visitors overstaying visas and the result is an immigration court backlog of 1.8 million cases as of June 2022.
The current political environment has not helped matters. Proposed immigration legislation passed in the House fails in the Senate and vice versa. Since 2013, immigration policy has largely been directed by executive actions or decided in courts of law. Previous policies are overturned by subsequent Presidents. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the average amount of time required to decide an immigration case has increased from 438 days in 2008 to 934 days in 2021.
Community service organizations, faith-based groups and specialized charities support unauthorized immigrants in Mecklenburg County. Sharon Dove, Director of the Immigrant Justice Program at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy leads a team of attorneys and paralegals working to prevent deportation of asylum seekers.
“We represent people primarily in removal proceedings in the Charlotte immigration court. We try to defend them. We do defend them against removal or deportation and then we also try to get them lawful status to live and work and raise their families here,” Dove said.
Dove said that 95% of the clients her organization represents are from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and then Mexico.
“If they can establish persecution on the grounds of a protected status like nationality or if they’re a member of a specific group, they have a political opinion that is related to the persecution, then they may be able to establish asylum and stay here,” Dove said.
In July 2022 the Migration Policy Institute published “The Missing Link — Connecting Eligible Asylees and Asylum Seekers with Benefits and Services”. The report outline benefits and services available to immigrants, depending on their status and, in the case of Afghanistan and Ukraine, country of origin.
Asylees differ from refugees in that they apply for protection while on U.S. soil while refugees complete the process while living in a different country.
The State Department pays national resettlement agencies which help refugees find housing, buy food, enroll children in school and prepare for employment during their first three months in the U.S.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement funds programs that support refugees and asylees for up to 12 months. These programs can provide the newcomers with cash, food stamps, medical care, education, employment authorization and training.
Asylum seekers who are not pregnant or minors are eligible for fewer services and must wait at least six months for work authorization.
Most of the Aghan nationals evacuated in August 2021 and people fleeing the war in Ukraine entered the U.S. with the status of ‘humanitarian parolee’ and are allowed to remain in the U.S. for two years and while here, to seek asylum.
President Biden established Operation Allies Welcome in August 2021 which provides Afghan nationals with most of the services provided to refugees, including resettlement benefits and help applying for asylum.
Another executive action created the Uniting for Ukraine program. It allows up to 100,000 people displaced by Russia’s aggression to travel to the U.S. and remain here for two years. Someone already living in the U.S. must apply for each individual newcomer and pledge to support them financially during their stay. This group is eligible for the benefits offered to asylees.
In less than two years, the humanitarian parole period for tens of thousands of Aghan nationals will expire. Approximately one year later, the same will occur for Ukrainians.
What impact on will the benefits and services that these two groups of immigrants received upon arrival have on their health, well-being and integration into American society?
Who will want to remain in the U.S.? How many individuals will apply for asylum and how many will be approved? How many will join the back log of cases in immigration court?
How will the results of this unfortunate experiment inform future immigration policy?
Article References
Klobucista, C., Cheatham, A., & Roy, Diana. (2022, August 3). The U.S. Immigration Debate. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0
Workie, E., Hinkle, L., & Heredia, S. 2. (2022,July). The missing link: Connecting eligible asylees and asylum seekers with …Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/mpi_asylee-asylum-seeker-benefits-2022_final.pdf
