End of Chapter 42: Forewarned is forearmed

The countdown to the end of Section 42 on May 11 of this year has begun. The event raised fears in the Democratic Party administration in the face of an expected increase in the number of migrants who are arriving at the southern border in search of asylum. Meanwhile, their fellow Republicans are rubbing their hands in anticipation of using these images for political purposes to reinforce their story that the border region is in “chaos” and that the “blame” lies with President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

This is a grotesque panorama in which a political game reigns, instead of viewing it as a humanitarian problem, in which thousands of migrants who have lost everything are stuck physically and psychologically in a geographical region so far from their places of origin, and where it would be difficult for them to return on one’s own. The idea, in any case, is to move forward until the goal is reached, regardless of the obstacles in the field of US policy.

If they were really concerned about the “crisis” at the border, one would hope that the Republicans would release the funds needed to process the thousands of asylum applications that are expected per day, now that Section 42 is being repealed, as they control the House of Representatives. Representatives. But this is not the case. Their plan is to create alarm among the people and activate their most recalcitrant base in order to take advantage of the situation for political purposes.

This will not be a big deal for them, as they laid the groundwork for this back in the era of the presidency of Donald Trump, who, despite a decisive defeat in the elections, retains the support of this section of society that believes in conspiracy theories. on ignorance, racism and xenophobia that led to tragic acts of violence against minorities.

This is something that Republicans have done over and over again over the previous decades, whether they were in the majority or in the minority, whether they occupied the White House or not, because the solution to problems with migration reform, which removes all the various fragments of our migration system supposedly deprive them of their favorite card in the political game: the use of immigrants as scapegoats and immigration as synonymous with lack of control.

It is from here that the Republican essence flows – and this is undeniable, as is their intention to destroy the image of the United States as a nation of immigrants, in order to anachronize what white supremacy, with all its “privileges”, has become.

Because a country as rich and powerful as the United States should be able to process migrant asylum seekers efficiently and in an orderly manner. This is what she has asserted to others and assumed about herself throughout history.

Of course, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that between 9,000 and 14,000 migrants will arrive at the border daily when Section 42 is repealed. In fact, DHS has asked Congress for $3.4 billion to implement its plan to manage the United States border. States and Mexico after the expiration of Section 42.

The United States can handle this moment, and the prospect of processing thousands of asylum applications a day should not be a nightmare. Instead, decision makers give the impression that they are most afraid of perception, not reality, given that it is a boundary after all: it is always moving, alive; Detention numbers go up and down and are not just Section 42.

That is why we insist that this country, which has been able to process thousands of Ukrainian refugees, can do the same with those coming from Latin America, making the process an act of dignity, not a media circus that extremist Republicans can use. . This will be a litmus test for both the Biden administration and its opponents, and especially for the American public as a whole, which will again find itself in a dilemma: continue to defend its principles and values, or abandon its humanitarian image as a hospitable nation.

There must be means to have more agents and judges at ports of entry to speed up the processing of applications, just as there must be resources to accommodate asylum seekers without having to seek shelter under bridges or on the streets of border towns. . This speaks poorly of the “most powerful nation” in the world.

After all, the end of Section 42 is something that has been expected since its implementation, and, as they say, forewarned is forearmed.

* Maribel Hastings and David Torres / Voice of America in Spanish

Author: Maribel Hastings and David Torres*
Source: La Opinion

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