Migration policy, a context of closed borders and exclusionary processes

For several decades, the governments of the United States (EU) have had various migration policies focused, more on their conception of national security and closed borders, than on an axis of interest and respect for human rights (particularly for people in an irregular immigration situation). However, since the beginning of the current US government, these situations have clearly worsened and its border and immigration policies have been based on clearly discriminatory speeches, measures and actions towards migrants (especially those without immigration documents), and, within this group, with special viciousness towards Mexicans and Central Americans.

The basis of the immigration policy of the present US government has been characterized not only by a prejudiced and uninformed reading of these flows of human mobility, but also by clear nativist ideological stigma and ultra-conservative nationalism. Most migrants are not criminals. On the contrary, they are people forced to leave their communities and countries of origin due to structural causes beyond their control (poverty, lack of jobs, stunted wages, contexts of violence, among others) [1].

Above all, starting from the “zero tolerance” stage, the axes of this policy in terms of measures and grievances against migrants have been characterized by the expansion of the border wall, the massive and surprising deportations, the separation of families, the detention and confinement of minors, legal and socio-media criminalization, denial of due process and of the request for the right to request asylum, detention in very precarious material and health conditions. These actions have not only been controversial and cruel, but most of them are contrary to US legal frameworks and respect for human rights. And the repercussions have been devastating for migrants: thousands of broken families, thousands of minors ripped from their families, systematic processes of socio-economic exclusion, physical and psychological aggression, emotional trauma and the deliberate and negligent death and omission of many migrants (various of them minors) [2].

The upsurge of violence as an immigration policy in pandemic contexts

Shortly after the virus reached the United States, this country became the epicenter of the pandemic worldwide. This is due to both the negligence and inability of the President of the United States Government to face the health emergency, as well as the structural and generalized process of deterioration of a selective and privatized health system (the result of decades of neoliberalism). In the context of the pandemic in the US and the contingency to deal with it, the situation of migrants (especially the undocumented) has only worsened. The US government has increased its escalation of attacks and human rights violations against migrants in various areas:

1) The asylum application processes are practically and de facto stopped. Certain media reports indicate that, during the pandemic period, only two requests have been approved [3].

2) Despite the pandemic and the request by various pro-migrant groups and social organizations to free people from immigration detention centers to avoid unnecessary infections and deaths, according to media website Democracy Now, close to 1,800 minors are still being held [4], and at least two migrants who were detained have died. [5] All this in a context of massive contagion processes in US immigration detention centers (there are already about 1,400 cases of contagion registered) [6].

3) The carrying out of deportation processes expressly and without due process. The newspaper La Jornada reported days ago that the US, taking advantage of the COVID 19 contingency, had deported nearly 900 children, regardless of their situation and whether they were at risk by forcibly returning them to their places of origin. [7] In addition, it has been news that several of the migrants deported expeditiously to their countries of origin (Mexico, Guatemala, among others), were already infected and that the essential medical security protocols in the US were not followed [8].

Showing the indifference and discrimination that has characterized him since the beginning of his administration, the current US government has used the pandemic to take its xenophobic and inhuman (anti) immigration agenda to a much more marked level. The consequences of this have been increased vulnerability and violations of the human rights of migrants (especially those who are detained).

Notes

[1]https://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/200809

[2]https://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/203907

[3]https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/15/headlines/us_granted_asylum_to_just_2_people_since_coronavirus_immigration_bans_took_effect 

[4]https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/13/headlines/trump_admin_holding_1_800_children_in_us_immigration_jails_despite_pandemic

[5]https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/15/headlines/second_immigrant_dies_of_covid_19_after_release_from_ice_jail

[6]https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/29/headlines/protesters_demand_ice_empty_its_jails_as_covid_19_continues_to_spread

[7]https://www.jornada.com.mx/sin-fronteras/2020/05/20/mas-de-900-ninos-han-sido-deportados-por-trump-durante-crisis-pandemica-3146.html

[8]https://www.jornada.com.mx/sin-fronteras/2020/05/27/deportacion-rapida-y-con-nocturnidad-de-migrantes-desde-eu-aumenta-riesgo-de-contagios-en-mexico-8763.html