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I crossed America’s southern border only twice on foot, both times in 1976. I walked over the Rio Grande bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, on my way to South America.
In late October that same year, I walked back over the Rio Grande bridge from Nogales, Mexico, into Arizona. On almost annual trips to Central America since then, I fly over the border, crossing a contrived international barrier at airport customs upon landing.
El Paso, Juarez and Nogales all were charged with a level of energy in the ’70s that made me nervous. The bridges were full of cars and the walkways full of people. But you could sense the real action was taking place on the riverbanks outside town. I got out of border towns quickly wherever I traveled. Border towns were good places to find trouble.
Tension at America’s southern border has since multiplied. New walls are now in place. Dangerous floating barriers have been placed in the Rio Grande River between Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico, near San Antonio. Yet migrants continue to make long and dangerous journeys to our border. They are desperate to find safety, opportunity and a future for their children. Some die along the way.
America is not alone in this. Individuals and families from across Africa and the Mideast fleeing violence, poverty and climate change make their way to Tunisia on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, using the popular central route. They board flimsy boats operated by traffickers who promise to carry them to European soil. Currently, the most popular destination is the small Italian island of Lampedusa near Malta.
On Aug. 3 of this year, 45 migrants left Sfax, Tunisia, in an open metal boat. Six hours into their 165-mile journey, their boat capsized in heavy seas. A total of 41 people drowned. Four survived. That brought the number of people dead and missing in the central Mediterranean, the most active and dangerous migration route in the world, to 1,800 so far in 2023.
Tunisian authorities put the number of sub-Saharan and Middle Eastern migrants concentrated in the Sfax area waiting to cross at 17,000. Migrants arriving in Italy so far this year are estimated at 93,000, more than twice those arriving in 2022. Top nations of origin include Guinea, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Tunisia. The European Union is struggling to develop safe and legal pathways of migration to prevent future deaths.
To unclog America’s southern border, the Biden administration created, by executive order, a parole program to bring migrants from the four countries that comprise the largest number of migrants clogging our southern border: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Migrants apply in their home country. They are screened, vetted, sponsored, interviewed and given the chance to fly directly to their ultimate U.S. destination where friends, relatives or sponsoring organizations are ready to help them. No need to crash the southern border. Work permits are expedited.
Through my children in Chicago, and in my role as a board member for Valley Immigrant Advocates, a local nonprofit provider of legal services to immigrants, I’ve talked to newly arrived immigrants and heard their plans. Their greatest priority is to work and earn money to improve their lives and the lives of their families.
The parole program is a small step toward managing migration to America and an alternative to busing migrants to random cities with no plan or allocation of federal dollars. But despite intense pressure, no one predicts Congress will pass legislation to reform America’s jumbled immigration laws given our current political climate. Until it does, expect more chaos.
Dave McClure lives in Ottawa. He is a long-retired director of a local private agency. He also is a blogger. You can read more from Dave at Daveintheshack.blogger.com.