A migrant crisis is facing America today. About 60 percent of U.S. citizens say our immigration policies are a major problem facing our country.
Tijuana’s mayor, Juan Manuel Gastélum, estimated last year that if all of the Central American migrants traveling north came to seek asylum in the United States, it could take six months for their claims to be heard at the main port of entry in San Diego.
A total of 303,916 apprehensions of illegal border crossings occurred in 2017, which doesn’t include those who successfully made it into the U.S. without being apprehended. This is a problem that takes tremendous resources from our government to fix and is seemingly never-ending.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, about 20 percent of claimants are granted asylum. Currently, there is a backlog of about 700,000 cases, and it can take years for claims to get resolved. Our system is overloaded with these claims of asylum and we can’t keep divulging this problem without a concrete solution or program to work towards.
American citizens have largely condemned these migrant caravans and have called for stricter policy in response, while Mexico’s citizens and government are overwhelmed as well. Last year alone, Mexico deported 70,000 migrants.
The people who traveled with these caravans have faced the challenges of corrupt gangs and many other tragedies on their journey in hopes of being admitted into the United States. To keep encouraging this is to continue putting these individuals and their families in danger.
Many individuals traveling within these migrant caravans are unaware that they will get stopped at the border and many have the belief that the “gate” will swing open when they do.
With the crisis now unraveling, the political system in Venezuela could lead to another migrant caravan coming from that region, which further overwhelms our southern border. With new policies that President Trump is offering, we could have the necessary resources and deterrents to prevent another crisis at our southern border.
The costs being placed on American taxpayers are deeply unfair, with the migrant crisis bringing countless other problems to our country. Any nation who faces this severe of a problem must allocate the resources needed, or find ways to combat the issue before it becomes a crisis, which is the situation we now find ourselves in.
