Stuck in Tijuana - Documentary opinion published in the El Paso Times

Documentary about migrants "Stuck in Tijuana" opened in El Paso, Texas

Echo opinion from El Paso Texas- America is about hope, not fear: By Ouisa D. Davis

Migration to the United States from the south is nothing new to the border region; many can trace their ancestral heritage to Mexico and the Latin American nations through the Camino Real Paso del Norte. The push/pull factors of migration are many and varied, still reflecting the pilgrim journeys of our American ancestors, across land or ocean.

The foundation of U.S. migration policy stands upon four pillars reflecting the journey: (1) people migrate for economic opportunity; (2) to reunify with family members already in the U.S.; to flee war, persecution, (3) violence and natural disaster; and (4) to become part of the demographic diversity of the U.S. population. The immigration laws and policies reflect those avenues of movement — the family immigration system, the labor certification and employment immigration system, refugee and asylum admissions, and the diversity lottery. Each avenue has subcategories and subprocesses, difficult to navigate for the uninitiated, very complicated to understand even by some of the most proficient immigration lawyers.

Immigration regulation began soon after the colonies won independence from Great Britain. 

In 1790, immigrants were required to live in the United States for two years and their respective state of residence for one year prior to applying for citizenship. As the country grew, so did the regulation of migration from the European continent to the Eastern seaboard, south and “claimed” lands, with revisions reflecting the politics and migrant flows of the times.

In the meantime, migration through the southwest region was unregulated — simply because these lands were not a part of the U.S. Even after the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas, establishing the U.S.-Mexico border, fluid migration from the south was a reality.

Since the 1952 codification of one immigration statute, Congress continually limits legal migration from Latin America, the African continent and the Asian-Pacific region. The final disruption of the not always orderly process of migration occurred when the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 was passed, toppling the four pillars of the system.

Migrants from Latin America routinely come to the U.S. to escape violence and poverty. There were avenues in place for these men, women and children to legally come to the U.S. through the asylum laws, as family immigrants, as workers, or under the diversity lottery system.

These avenues to migration, gutted by the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and disrupted by the harsh policies implemented under the current administration, cause the human bottleneck we see today. The current administration’s policies and unlawful actions deny immigrants and refugees lawful entry, treating them like cattle as they follow the Camino Real to the Paso del Norte – the Ellis Island of the southern border. Unlike Ellis Island, we have only remote and privately operated prisons for men, women and children who have not committed any crime.

The accompanying rhetoric, inhumane treatment and brutish military tactics employed in response to this humanitarian crisis compound the situation. With state-sponsored kidnapping of thousands of children from their parents, the unlawful denial of access to lawful ports of entry by immigration officials who turn people away in the “no-man’s land” at the top of the U.S.-Mexico bridges, the U.S. government prevents these migrants and refugees from lawfully applying for immigration status. (MaineWriter- this is an evil policy shame on US!) In testimony before a congressional oversight panel Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen refused to take responsibility for the actions of her agency.

America is about hope, not fear. Migrants and refugees are human beings. To fully understand the issues, enter into the experience. Acclaimed filmmaker Charlie Minn traveled to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico to closely examine the “caravan” of asylum seekers and the many shelters they are residing in while enduring this brutal humanitarian crisis. His recent movie, “Stuck in Tijuana” opens Friday at the Bassett Place Premier Cinema.

Ouisa D. Davis is an attorney at law in El Paso. She may be reached at Ouisadavis@yahoo.com.