Name it! We are experiencing a refugee crisis, not a border crisis.

I recently wrote that the GOP's case against Biden's domestic policies is all based on lies. Since then Republicans have found it increasingly difficult to scare-monger about issues like inflation and crime. But images like this are ramping up the salience of the so-called "border crisis." 

Good morning from Eagle Pass, the latest epicenter of the humanitarian crisis along the US-Mexico border.

Thousands of migrants slept here, waiting for overwhelmed border agents to process them.

More than 10,000 migrants crossed the southern border in the past 24 hours alone. pic.twitter.com/xs9xxipfOW

— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) December 19, 2023

Let's be clear about what is going on here. Note that migrants are "waiting for overwhelmed border agents to process them" and that Eagle Pass is a port of entry on our Southern border. Taken together, we know that those thousands of migrants have voluntarily presented themselves to Border Patrol at a port of entry (as the Biden administration requires) in order to seek asylum. 

The first steps in that process are to undergo a background check and participate in a "credible threat assessment." The latter is designed to determine if there is a “significant possibility” they will face persecution on “account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion” if they return to their home country. 

Those who fail to pass this initial step (about 25%) are immediately subject to deportation (ie, from May-September 2023, over 253,000 individuals were removed or returned to 152 countries). Those who pass are released (often to family and/or NGO's) to await their day in court - which can take up to four years due to the current backlog of cases. Those procedures are all codified in the Refugee Act of 1980 - which passed the Senate unanimously and the House on a vote of 211-195.

The numbers tell the story of what is happening today.

• As of October 2022, there were more than 7.1 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela around the world. Approximately 1.8 million Venezuelans have gone to Colombia and 1.3 million to Peru. U.S. Border Patrol encounters with Venezuelans increased 15,164% between FY 2020 and FY 2022.
• U.S. Border Patrol encounters with Nicaraguans increased 7,604% between FY 2020 and FY 2022.
• U.S. Border Patrol encounters with Cubans increased 2,143% between FY 2020 and FY 2022.
• Between FY 2020 and FY 2022, U.S. Border Patrol encounters increased 560% for Haitians, 465% for Salvadorans, 397% for Hondurans and 383% for Guatemalans.

It is time we named this for what it is. We don't have a "border crisis" in this country. We are in the midst of a "refugee crisis." As Stuart Anderson wrote:

Criticism of the increase in Border Patrol encounters has implied that individuals would not come to the United States if U.S. immigration policy were sufficiently harsh. However, the countries from which people are seeking refuge have experienced economic and political upheavals. These upheavals or continuing violence and repression have created a large number of refugees.

What images like the one in the tweet up above tell us is that, as a country, we are woefully unprepared to deal with the refugee crisis we are facing. But once we've correctly identified the problem, we can compare and contrast the solutions proposed by Democrats and Republicans.

Fist of all, not many people know that the first bill President Biden sent to Congress on January 20, 2021 was a comprehensive immigration reform bill. 

The legislation modernizes our immigration system, and prioritizes keeping families together, growing our economy, responsibly managing the border with smart investments, addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, and ensuring that the United States remains a refuge for those fleeing persecution...The bill creates an earned path to citizenship for our immigrant neighbors, colleagues, parishioners, community leaders, friends, and loved ones—including Dreamers and the essential workers who have risked their lives to serve and protect American communities.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) has introduced similar legislation.

Meanwhile, in order to address the backlog of asylum hearings, President Biden has added 302 judges to immigration courts (a 54% increase) and has done several things to address the refugee crisis directly.

Migrants in northern and central Mexico can use a government phone app, known as CBP One, to try to secure an appointment to enter the U.S. at a port of entry along the southern border. The U.S. is distributing roughly 1,000 appointments per day...

Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants also have the option of flying to the U.S. if U.S.-based individuals agree to financially sponsor them. The Biden administration's program allows for up to 30,000 of these arrivals per month.

Biden's supplemental budget request for aid to Israel, Ukraine, and the refugee crisis included funding for additional border patrol officers, asylum officers, and immigration attorneys, as well as detention beds, non-custodial housing and cutting-edge detection technology. Demonstrating that they're not interested in actually solving the refugee crisis, Republicans rejected that request. 

In a subsequent piece I'll fact-check the lies Republicans are telling about this issue and demonstrate that they're not only proposing procedures that won't work - they also want to dismantle the Biden administration efforts that ARE working.