Giving Compass' Take:

• Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce lay out intermediate- and long-term policy solutions to effectively address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

• Why is it so difficult to get meaningful immigration policy change? How can funders more effectively work to move the needle on this issue? 

• Learn about building immigration consensus in a divided world


Given the circumstances surrounding Central American migration in recent months, as well as historically, there are a range of responses the administration and Congress could take immediately to address and begin to resolve the crisis. They need to be coupled with others that require a longer-term horizon.

First, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could have a quick effect on the flows by equipping the asylum system with the means to do its work effectively. This would require changing how asylum processing takes place at the U.S.-Mexico border. Asylum officers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conduct an initial screening interview (the “credible fear” interview) to determine if the applicant has a “significant possibility” of establishing eligibility for asylum. Those who pass are then allowed into the United States where they can apply for asylum before an immigration judge. But because of massive backlogs in the immigration court system, such hearings are currently two, three, or even four years off. These long delays serve as an incentive for those without protection needs to also seek asylum, overburdening the system.

Second, some share of the billions of dollars newly available to CBP and DHS ($2 billion in additional appropriations for CBP from the agreement that ended the shutdown and $1 billion reprogrammed by the Department of Defense in furtherance of the president’s national emergency declaration to get funds to build new border barriers) should be directed at deepening the ability of the asylum system to work in response to the crisis at the border.

Third, the administration must work in close partnership with Mexico, whose position on Central American migration and migrants has changed under its new president to focus on human rights, economic development, and regional responsibilities. Migrants can get work permits in Mexico, which officials say is experiencing labor shortages, and can also apply for asylum there.

In the longer term, the United States must help foster a more stable, economically productive Central America. Until Central Americans can experience political stability and citizen security in their home countries, political turmoil, gang violence, corruption, increased climate and agricultural challenges, and weak economies will drive people to seek better life prospects. Migration is one of the answers to which they will invariably turn.

There are no quick fixes to the problems now playing out at the border. However, both immediate and longer-term policy solutions are there for the United States if it is serious about managing and reducing further increases in the flows and in addressing the causes of this migration. What is needed is the willingness and staying power to act on these policy solutions.

Read the full article about the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border by Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce at Migration Policy Institute.