Migration policies are failing, migrants are strugling - ‘broken’ national immigration system

Migrants arriving in New York face many challenges — including getting food

https://www.yahoo.com/news/migrants-arriving-york-face-many-110022508.html

Alone in a new country with young children and no access to work, migrant mothers told CBS News they're worried about the food available for their families in the New York City shelters.

Three migrant women living in the shelters, Angelica, Osranary and Michelle, were in agreement when asked about their thoughts on the food, saying it's "not good."

Osranary, who arrived about a month ago, said most of the food they're given is pasta and salad, which isn't always appropriate for young children.


New York

NYC mayor puts $12 billion cost on migrant crisis, blames ‘broken’ national immigration system

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday sharpened his appeal for state and federal aid by presenting steep new cost projections for the tens of thousands of migrants in New York City’s care.

“If we don’t get the support we need, New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill,” he said in a formal address to the public from City Hall.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/09/eric-adams-new-york-migrants-cost-00110472

 

Exactly, Steve.

 

Our immigration laws are broken. This is to be expected since the last time any immigration reform laws were passed was 1986.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_reform_in_the_United_States

Things have changed in the past 37 years but our laws have not changed to keep up with the changing times. Right now immigration reform is a hot button issue stuck in a quagmire of political nonsense.

 

2016: "A total ban on Muslim immigration." That guy could be coming back again. That won't help. I think Steve's comment is closer to the truth than "broken laws" or "political quagmires." People ARE awful. That's the root cause here. And a few thousand years of history convinces me - they really ARE.

Almost exclusively (but not quite) - men, that is. We're a bad lot, in general. A few exceptions of course. I don't claim to be one of them.

 

The 2016 Muslim ban was not a passed law. It was an executive order that got modified significantly by the courts. Just like Trump's order to separate families. That was just an executive order dreamed up by Steve Miller and signed by Trump. That too got gutted by the courts but after thousands of kids were separated from their parents. The idea was to be so mean and awful to the immigrants that it would scare off other parents from trying to bring their kids across the border.

 

Only truly AWFUL people could promote such an idea. Or the Muslim immigration thing. I don't give a hoot if it was passed as a law, a city ordinance or an executive daydream. None of them make it any better, As for separating the kids - Executive Shmexecutive. We're talking little children here. I'm still with Steve. People who put this crap forward are so low and awful, that they commit a crime by waking up in the morning, as I see it.

Git th' rope, Clem.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/york-city-suggests-housing-migrants-220919395.html

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York City officials want to ease pressure on overcrowded homeless shelters by housing migrants in a federal jail that once held mobsters, terrorists and Wall Street swindlers before being shut down.
Lawyers had long complained that the jail was filthy, infested with bugs and rodents, and plagued by water and sewage leaks so bad they had led to structural issues.

Migrants are still being welcomed across the border in droves, with 2,000 to 3,000 a week allowed to legally enter the US at El Paso, Texas and start new lives, according to the city’s data.
Despite the administration’s claims the border is under control, local leaders are gobsmacked by the continued influx and claim nothing has changed since the end of Title 42 in May.
“All of a sudden the surge just comes back and right now we are busier than we’ve ever been,” Blake Burrow of El Paso’s Rescue Mission told The Post Thursday.
His migrant shelter has erected tents to add bed space for the newly arrived migrants, almost all of whom are from central and South America.

Customs and Border protection (CBP) data released later showed over 99,000 encounters with people trying to illegally cross into the US during June and over 132,000 in July.

Figures from El Paso’s own migrant tracker show more are being released onto its streets now than before the end of Title 42, with over 600 a day on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
New York has been overwhelmed by the migrant population with over 57,000 people housed at facilities across the city at the beginning of August and thousands more arriving every week, exasperating Mayor Eric Adams and stretching services to breaking point. Chicago also ran out of shelter spaces months ago and resorted to housing migrants in police buildings.

 

NYC mayor resumes demand that Biden expedite migrant work permits, points to Israel as an example

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nyc-mayor-resumes-demand-biden-232000136.html

New York Mayor Eric Adams, on his second day in Israel, pointed to the country's policies of granting work authorizations to new immigrants on Tuesday as an example of what President Joe Biden should be doing when it comes to the migrant crisis in the U.S., now acutely felt in New York City.

Adams, who’s traveling in Israel until Wednesday, said during a call with reporters that addressing the situation stateside “comes down to the right to work — something you’ve heard me say over and over again in New York.”

“That is our pathway forward in America,” he said. “I was here (in Israel) a few years ago, and I saw the influx of refugees from Ethiopia, and now I’m seeing the result of their ability to work and their ability to incorporate themselves into society ... I believe that should be a symbol to our country, and I’m hoping the White House does see the importance of allowing people the right to work.”

 

The guy's not wrong.

I'm afraid, though, that moving decisively on anything migration would cost Biden more political capital he can afford to spare. Heck, today's Washington can't even accommodate Dreamers, a group practically no one opposes out loud. Or "documented Dreamers", folk who came here legally as children. It's sad.

 

Sad, this shouldn't have been an issue. I don't get it.
If it was up to me, they would be pursuing the American Dream as citizens long time ago.

 

There's nothing to "get". GOP as a party is anti-immigrant. They do not like us. Even those who are immigrants or children of immigrants are beholden to the base and will not lift a finger to help any of us. I wish more immigrants would see that and vote accordingly.

 

GOP is not anti immigrant, we have Regen Amnesty etc, are there far right elements in GOP that are anti immigrant, yes.
Unfortunately NY now is dealing with what border cities deal with for many decades.
Dem's and GOP can come together and improve the situation. For this we need to elect the right leaders.

 

True that the GOP from the Reagan era was not anti-immigrant. Even 20 years ago the GOP was not anti-immigrant. The current GOP is anti-immigrant. Perhaps you never heard that the GOP considers Mexicans to generally be rapists and criminals. Although they have then begrudgingly admitted that there might be a few good Mexicans sprinkled in amongst them. It's not just the leader of the GOP that I'm talking about actually. Here's an excellent article that demonstrates that Republicans in general have become anti-immigration over the past 20 years.

How the parties have realigned on immigration

To anyone familiar with partisan politics in 2022, the immigration battles of 20 or even 10 years ago look like something from another universe.
...
"It’s very hard to imagine what a pro-immigrant Republican would look like, and how they’d position themselves in their party,” said Michael Jones-Correa, the president’s distinguished professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

https://thehill.com/latino/3705688-the-gop-has-changed-on-immigration-it-may-never-change-back/

 

I think there is a momentum in favor of bi- partizan action is here. Undocumented migrants are hurting, NY is hurting, borther towns are hurting.
If current administration do more to secure the bortders and in parallel expend worker programs among other there can be some progress.
States like Florida and TX will adjust their treatment of migrants.
NY, DC will get less migrants arriving there.
And employment workforce shortages can be addressed.
Posibly as side effect human trafficing and other crime may decrease.
Islamic terror incidents declined dramatically since the temporary ban.
We have home grown terror to deal with.
Many countries have merit based migration policies that aid economy.
Both sides will need to compromise.

 

The current admin literally continues Trump border policies, and in response Florida just revived FL State Guard and allocated $100M to arm it and turn into an immigrant hunting posse. Not to mention the human trafficking thingy. Dems offered Trump money for his wall in exchange for a path for the Dreamers -no deal. GOPs version of "compromise" was Purdue-Cotton bill cutting legal immigration in half. When you are talking about "bipartisan solutions", you are delusional. The GOP is owned by the far right, all they have to offer on the issue is Deportation Force or worse.

And you know why? Self interest. They get to energize theri base, fundraise among the morons, and moderate voters like you aren't punishing them for that. Would you consider withholding your vote and giving it to the Dems because GOP literally demonize you and your family daily? No you won't. What hope is there, then?

 

Author of the "welfare queen" meme. No thanks. I mean, GOP is getting worse, so anyone from the past look reasonable in comparison. Doesn't mean they were good.

 

The head scratcher for me is that there really isn't any crisis on the border beyond what two vicious Governors, Abbott and DeSantis, have decided to manufacture.

Yes, there are a LOT of people who want to come to the U.S. and be safe and able to work. No crime in that; besides, we need these people.

We admit lawfully up to a million immigrants a year. 50 million residents are foreign born. Delays and impatience are inevitable. But no, any system that processes more than the population of some States every year is not broken. Overworked, yes, but not broken.

 

Employment-based Green Card categories for applicants from India have priority dates in 2009 (meaning applications filed in 2009 can START processing). Some family-based priorities are even earlier. Skilled temporary worker visas for employees of private companies are awarded by lottery (and that's AFTER one finds an employer willing to entertain that). Dreamers problem. Legal dreamers problem. Whole industries relying on undocumented labor. Oh, it's broken allright.