Tag: politics

‘Tis the Season

Every year as summer approaches, the monthly tally of migrant deaths at the US/Mexico border increases. While the number of undocumented border crossings has been down in recent months, one thing is for sure: as the summer heats up, more migrants will die. 

In 2022, the last year for which numbers are available, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported 895 migrant deaths. Previously, the worst year had recorded deaths in the mid-500s. Documented migrant deaths are likely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those lost to family members during migration to the United States. CBP numbers only reflect the remains that are found, not migrants reported as missing. 

Migrant deaths are one consequence of increased US border security policy. As the border gets harder to cross, people cross between ports of entry in more remote areas to avoid detection. They can spend days walking through desert terrain, exposed to brutal elements and often running out of water, while others drown crossing the Rio Grande. 

The border is not the only area where migrants die while making their way to the United States. Many migrants report that crossing Mexico is the most dangerous part of their journey. This is not due to exposure to the elements but rather to exposure to criminal organizations, too often in collusion with police or other officials. Migrant kidnapping has become a common practice in Mexico. The families of kidnapped migrants are called and extorted. If the families can’t pay, migrants can end up dead or forced to work for the criminal group. 

Another dangerous region is the Darien Gap, the stretch of isthmus connecting North and South America, between Colombia and Panama. There are no roads that connect these two countries. Until just a few years ago, this mountainous region, covered by dense jungle and fast-moving rivers, was considered impassable. Migrants crossing the Darien succumb to rivers, wild animals, snakes, falls, and criminal organizations. In 2022, the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 146 migrants missing in the Darien, likely a severe undercount given testimonials by migrants who survived the journey. 

The Missing Migrant Project also documented 350 migrants missing in the Caribbean in 2022 and  another 247 in 2023. Despite many migrants dying at sea, this region receives much less media attention. 

The world is not organized in a way that makes it easy for the families of missing migrants to search for and identify their loved ones. Families will know where their person last made contact with them, but this is not necessarily where they went missing.  

Even within the US it is not easy to report a missing migrant. Missing persons are supposed to be reported in the jurisdiction where they went missing.  But, if the family is not in that jurisdiction or does not know the exact location where their loved one was lost, they may find authorities unwilling to take the report. Few police jurisdictions want to have extra unresolved missing persons cases on their books. 

While coordination between state and federal authorities to identify unidentified remains has improved in recent years, it is still complicated. There is more than one government database with information that could be helpful. Furthermore, non-governmental organizations and the families of the missing person may be hesitant to report to government authorities or provide DNA for testing, especially if they are undocumented.   

While identifying remains in the US is complex, the level of difficulty goes to a whole other level when more than one country is involved. Sharing identifying information across national boundaries requires legal agreements and cooperation by governments. 

As the weather heats up, it is a good time to remember the risks that undocumented migrants take. For some, this will be their final journey and the beginning of a long search process for their families. 

Criminalizing Humanitarian Assistance

Immigration politics are playing themselves out in the US in many disturbing ways, not the least of which is the current legal effort by Texas State Attorney General, Ken Paxton, to take down Annunciation House, a refugee and migrant services organization.

Annunciation House was started in the 1970s by church lay workers seeking to serve the poor. What became of that effort was a ministry that has served hundreds of thousands of refugees, migrants and local El Paso residents. Annunciation House provides food, shelter and other forms of humanitarian assistance and hospitality. It is well respected within El Paso and by those working to meet the needs of refugees and migrants all along the border.

As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. In February of this year lawyers from Paxton’s office Texas arrived unannounced at Annunciation House demanding operational records. Since then, the Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit accusing the organization of being, “engaged in the operation of an illegal stash house by potentially allowing others to use its real estate to engage in human smuggling.”

This is so twisted that it’s hard to know where to begin. Human smuggling is a heinous crime, a business designed to exploit its victims. The humanitarian assistance and accompaniment provided by Annunciation House is as far from human smuggling as one can imagine. Their work is motivated by faith in God and a call to serve, not in the exploitation of others or the enrichment of themselves.

The Attorney General is trying to shut down Annunciation House and instill fear in those who provide aid to refugees and migrants throughout the state. The organizations on the border who provide this kind of assistance are run by volunteers and this lawsuit attempts to intimidate them. It forces volunteers to wonder: “if I drive a migrant to the hospital, can I be accused of smuggling? “

To use laws designed to combat human smuggling to close one of the premier migrant shelter and assistance organizations at the US-Mexico border is sick. It reminds me of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s attempt in 2021 to use an organized crime and money laundering statute to go after an academic institution – the misapplication of the law for political ends.

The reason there isn’t more of a crisis at the border is because of the work of places like Annunciation House. If the Texas AG wants a real crisis at the border, he would shut down places like Annunciation House and see what happens when the needs of so many are not met by non-governmental organizations but fall squarely upon local communities and state government.

Criminalizing humanitarian assistance does nothing to staunch the flow of migrants and asylum seekers. Furthermore, it does nothing to stop human smuggling. Blessed be those who serve the poor this Easter season and may they be protected from those who twist the law.

*First published in MexicoToday.com, the English language site of the Mexican paper La Reforma.