EL
PASO — Over the last month, I have traveled in three congressional
delegations to El Paso and southern New Mexico. We heard from federal
law enforcement, toured detention centers and Border Patrol stations,
and listened to human rights and legal advocates who have worked with
migrants for decades.
Some of us even saw where Felipe Gómez Alonzo, an 8-year-old Guatemalan who recently died while in custody, and his father were apprehended.
Obviously,
El Paso and its metropolitan area, including Ciudad Juárez, in Mexico,
is just one point along a very long border. But everything we saw
demonstrated why President Trump’s call for a wall is simplistic and
misguided. While there is indeed a crisis on the border, it’s not the
one the president describes — and, in fact, his “solution” will only
make things worse.
The border runs
for 2,000 miles. Some of it runs through impassable terrain, some
alongside cities like El Paso. About 700 miles of it already has a wall.
In other words, the border may look like one long, thin line on a map,
but in reality it is much more complicated.
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Nor
are those arriving at the border the threatening mass of humanity Mr.
Trump imagines. For one thing, there are a lot fewer people being
apprehended — down 60 percent from a decade ago. And these days the
majority are seeking asylum, their legal right. And while drugs do flow
across the border, most of them come through ports of entry.
It’s
not just Mr. Trump who fails to appreciate these facts; as I’ve come to
learn as an El Pasoan and now a member of Congress, so does the
Department of Homeland Security.
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Despite receiving more money than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined,
the department has not adapted to changes in migrating populations and
patterns. Before giving it another penny, Congress must understand why.
Instead
of developing a nuanced response to the facts on the ground, this
administration has chosen incompetence and cruelty as its approach. The
consequences are already apparent.
For
example, one reason more migrants are coming across the border through
the desert, then requesting asylum, may be that they are being unfairly
rejected at official border crossings or being forced to languish in
Mexico while their applications are being considered at a deliberately
slow pace, a tactic called “metering.” Many choose not to wait, and make a desperate, risky choice — and some die as a result.
And
because federal law enforcement agencies have failed to adapt to this
changing population, agents are ill equipped to handle the asylum
seekers once they do arrive.
Those
agents are used to chasing after single Mexican men determined to evade
capture. They are now dealing with Central American families, fleeing
their countries and running to, not from, the agents. Some carry very small children; all are being crowded into small, inhumane cement cells for days at a time.
I am not blaming the agents. During one of our visits to an El Paso Sector station,
agents were up front with us about how unprepared they were to care for
the large groups of people they apprehended. They had to buy burritos
from a vendor down the street, then warm hundreds of them in a single,
small microwave that eventually burned out.
Then
there was the mother who, in our presence, asked for a cup of water for
her toddler, only to be told that the facility was out of cups. What a
terrible situation for the mother, holding an exhausted, thirsty child
in her arms. And what does that do to the agent who has to say no to
her?
During flu season, agents in El
Paso had to dispense medication to their charges. Imagine keeping track
of dozens of prescriptions intended to be dispensed every few hours. And
all of this was keeping agents from what they were trained to do: track
and apprehend bad guys.
When I ask
agents what they worry about most, I hear stories like this — not pleas
for a wall. Other times they ask for better cellphone coverage and
updated radios to use in rural areas. In urban areas with busy ports of
entry, they ask for more personnel and newer equipment. There aren’t
enough immigration judges, they don’t have enough independence, and the
laws on the books don’t reflect modern realities.
The
agents may not be to blame, but the agencies sure are. Local
immigration activists said their main concern was inadequate
communication from federal law enforcement, which left their
organizations scrambling when the local Immigration Customs Enforcement
office releases hundreds of migrants in need of temporary housing into
the nighttime streets of El Paso.
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