We met Rodrigo, a 19-year-old Venezuelan migrant, a week or so ago in the park where he slept in Tapachula, Mexico, near the border with Guatemala. He lifted his shirt to show us a chest covered in scars caused by poisonous plants in the Darien Gap. The Darien is a remote, roadless one-week trek between Colombia and Panama, with some 60 miles of dense rainforest and mountains. Migrants are frequently robbed, and women are raped. Deaths from disease, murder and exhaustion are common. Rodrigo had lost all of his possessions in the crossing and arrived in Mexico hungry and broke. But he was determined to continue north.
In an election-year effort to troll “sanctuary cities” and embarrass President Joe Biden, Gov. Greg Abbot of Texas has sent more than 3,000 of these mostly Venezuelan migrants to Chicago. These migrants are in the U.S. legally but penniless and without permission to work legally. The buses from Texas open their doors and put them out on the street. Heartless political grandstanding.
Biden responded last week with his own posturing, basically closing the border to Venezuelan refugees by using the Trump-era Title 42 health measure as a pretext to immediately deport them on arrival.
The stresses of bad government in Venezuela, the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. sanctions have combined to create an economic collapse there and the biggest humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Some 6.8 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2013. Most initially stayed in South America, but now they are moving north in large numbers.
Our organization MedGlobal provides humanitarian medical support to migrants as they leave Venezuela. After the Darien, Tapachula is the second major choke point. We were there to see where our medical volunteers would be helpful. MedGlobal also works in Reynosa, Mexico, at the U.S.-Mexico border. And lately, some of us volunteer to support the Venezuelans when they arrive in Chicago.
In Tapachula, the Mexican government has mobilized its army and federal, state and municipal police to contain the migrants. Venezuelans, Haitians and others heading north can enter Mexico legally by applying for asylum, but this process can easily last six months. There is the constant threat of deportation and, for single men, detention in the massive, filthy and violent Siglo 21 immigration detention center. Venezuelan migrants frequently say the combination of predatory corrupt police, cartels and crime make Mexico worse than the Darien.
For those Venezuelans whom fate has brought to Chicago, the city, the state and organizations such as The Resurrection Project and Catholic Charities have responded heroically, building a “welcoming” system from scratch. There are shelters, food, clothing and efforts to connect with health care and social services. But what the migrants want most — to work — cannot be done legally. The emergency response is becoming overwhelmed. No one has the answer to: “What happens this winter?”
Meanwhile, the Republican Party seeks to capitalize on the wave of concern over “border chaos” to regain control of Congress. The GOP somehow believes that creating even more misery at the border will deter Rodrigo and his friends.
The Biden administration’s response was to make a deal with Mexico. Venezuelans will be immediately deported back to Mexico, and in return, Mexico will get nearly 65,000 migrant visas to the U.S. for nonagricultural jobs. There will be 24,000 family humanitarian-parole visas for Venezuelans — but visas with glaring shortcomings.
First, 24,000 is a ridiculously small number. There have been 150,000 Venezuelans already apprehended at the southern border from last October through August.
Second, the application must be made from abroad, with a U.S. family sponsor and the ability to pay for multiple plane tickets. Third, the immediate expulsion at the border without an avenue to appeal is simply setting up repeat crossing at different sites. This is one of the main explanations for the record 2 million arrests at the U.S. border this year.
Finally, none of those who have been already released legally into the U.S. are eligible. This means that a work permit is out of reach for most of those who have arrived in Chicago. Those who have been apprehended and sent back to Mexico are also not eligible. This program may or may not solve Biden’s political problem. It does not help Chicago or the migrants who are here.
All agree — our immigration system is broken. Two million border apprehensions in 10 months is a human tidal wave. The asylum system is drowning with years of backlogs. There are 11 million people in the U.S. illegally contributing with their hard work. White Ukrainians get humanitarian visas while Black Haitians get deported to their failed state. Groups with broad support, such as the “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children and the farmworkers who fed us through the pandemic, have little prospect for permanent legal status.
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There are serious ideas about how to fix these issues, but Republican political leaders like Abbott prefer to weaponize the issue than to compromise on solutions. And Democrats talk nice but only react and will not lead.
Meanwhile we encourage individuals to step forward. Medical professionals can volunteer with MedGlobal, businesspeople can join the American Business Immigration Coalition and lawyers can support Access to Justice. Faith leaders can provide support through The Resurrection Project, and citizens can help by donating clothing and volunteering their time and money.
Finally, all of us should demand that our elected officials have the fortitude to advance real solutions and to compromise across party lines.
Dr. John Kahler, co-founder of MedGlobal, an international medical nongovernmental organization, is senior adviser to the group’s Latin American programs. Josh Hoyt is a MedGlobal board member and co-founder of the American Business Immigration Coalition. He is a onetime executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
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