A surge of apprehensions—and deaths—at the border in the recent period shows how immigrants who are desperately trying to escape deadly hunger and violence in Central America continue to face horrors when they finally reach the U.S. border.
Mother holds her 9-year-old as they wait for Border Patrol to take them into custody. Photo: Border Report/Sandra Sanchez
Over 1.1 Million Migrants Arrested Since October 1
On July 16, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that the Border Patrol had made over 1.1 million apprehensions of migrants trying to enter the U.S. since October. This is the largest number of immigrants arrested at the border in this period of the year since 2006. Part of the reason for this high number is that so many migrants have been trying to cross the border over and over again. In June alone, 34 percent of those arrested had already been stopped at the border at least once in the past year.
Much of this is being caused by Biden’s decision to keep in place a federal order invoked by Trump in March 2020. Known as Title 42—under justification of COVID-19-related “public health” measures—it was used to deny all asylum claims and expel hundreds of thousands of migrants immediately. These overwhelmingly are people fleeing crushing poverty and hunger as well as deadly violence in Central America. Forced to survive in Mexico to file for asylum or return to the country they fled, many of these migrants have been left no choice but to risk another attempted crossing of the border into the U.S. In June, 82 percent of the 117,600 single adults stopped—the largest group caught trying to cross—were summarily expelled.
Biden did release from Title 42 two groups of migrants coming to the border—unaccompanied minors and those traveling as families. The Border Patrol apprehensions of those groups also increased in June: an eight percent rise (15,252) for unaccompanied children and a 25 percent rise (55,805) for families.
The largest numbers of those coming to the border are fleeing conditions in the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador). On top of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change is taking a terrible toll in this region because of more destructive droughts, hurricanes, and other effects. In the recent period, two deadly hurricanes hit in the same place in Central America within two weeks. Especially in Honduras, there was widespread destruction of crops and homes, resulting in about nine million people being displaced. Guatemala has been experiencing a drought that destroyed the coffee crop. These are the two countries with the largest numbers of Central American migrants forced to flee.
Vicki Gass, a policy adviser for Central America at Oxfam International, told the New York Times, “They’ve had six years of ongoing droughts in these areas.... They have no food, no means for employment or livelihood, and they’re eating the seeds which they would normally save for planting. And when the seeds are gone, they don’t have much more to go on.”[1]
Unlike Trump and the Republi-fascists, the Democrats shed some crocodile tears when talking about these immigrants—fake sympathy and concern. But the reality behind this came out when Vice President Kamala Harris went to Guatemala in June to issue a stern warning to people desperately seeking refuge in the U.S.: “Do not come! Do not come! The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders. If you come to our border, you will be turned back.” As revcom.us pointed out at the time, “The reality is that the Democrats and the Republi-fascists are both representatives of this capitalist-imperialist system. The ‘solutions’ that each have for the people desperately fleeing their homes and seeking a means of survival in the U.S. are based on what they think will best protect and advance their interests as exploiters and oppressors.”[2]
Rising Death Toll at Border Crossings
The record number of border crossers is leading to more people dying as they attempt to travel in this year’s record-breaking summer heat through Arizona’s desert and rugged mountains and along the Rio Grande in Texas. In past years, the summer months have usually seen a significant drop in the number of border crossers. But this year the opposite is happening, leading to a large death toll.
The Arizona group Humane Borders reports that 43 sets of human remains were found in Arizona’s border region just the last month. At least 29 of those remains were of people who had died within a week. A spokesperson told the Associated Press that 127 sets of remains have been found in the first six months of this year, compared to 96 over the same period last year, with the most dangerous months still ahead.
This increase in migrant deaths has also been reported in Texas. The Brooks County Sheriff’s Department in southern Texas last month reported 36 migrant deaths in the first five months of 2021, more than all of last year.
Federal Judge Rules DACA Program Illegal
On Friday, July 16, a federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of a suit against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) brought by nine Republican-controlled states. The judge ruled that DACA was illegally created by then-president Obama in 2012.[3] DACA is the federal program that has given 800,000 “Dreamers”—undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children—temporary protection from deportation and allowed them to go to school and hold jobs.
In 2017, Trump did end DACA, but this move was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020. The Supreme Court ruled on a technicality and did not rule on DACA’s legality.
The federal court decision does not at this time eliminate DACA protections for those already enrolled in the program and allows them to renew enrollment in the program. But their status as undocumented immigrants, with no path to citizenship, is more precarious than ever. And their protected status could end without action by Congress or major changes by the Biden administration. The Department of Justice intends to appeal this decision, but if and when the case again reaches the Supreme Court, DACA will be facing a fascist majority among the justices.
The federal court decision puts a stop to the government granting approval even to those who have already applied. Of the 650,000 currently enrolled in the program, 200,000 have been frontline workers with essential jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. And there are now a quarter of a million U.S.-born children who have at least one undocumented parent in DACA.
[1] What’s Driving the Surge?, New York Times, April 5, 2021
[2] Kamala Harris Slams Door in Face of Desperate Guatemalan Immigrants: “DO NOT COME!”, revcom.us, June 14, 2021
[3] The nine states with Republican governors or state attorneys general are Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia.