Republicans, Democrats at odds over how to handle border as governors send migrants north

Amna Nawaz:

Immigration is once again the subject of heated debate, with Republicans and Democrats at odds over how to handle thousands of migrants arriving at the U.S. Southern border.

Republican leaders have implemented a new strategy, further escalating tensions.

In Washington, D.C., this morning, two buses of migrants arrived outside the Naval Observatory, near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris. Many people were confused about why they arrived here after entering the U.S. at the Southern border.

David Morales, Migrant (through translator):

A very long, tough trip. We didn't expect to be left adrift here without knowing where to head to.

Amna Nawaz:

That followed two flights carrying about 50 migrants that landed in Martha's Vineyard last night. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis said today he was behind those flights.

G0v. Ron DeSantis (R-FL):

One of the reasons why we want to transport, because we — obviously, it's expensive if people are coming here. You got to — taxes, social services, and all these other things. Every community in America should be sharing in the burdens.

Amna Nawaz:

Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona have spent millions this year offering free bus rides from their borders to Democrat-led cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, a political tactic to call attention to the U.S. Southern border.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has seen an increase in border encounters over the last three years, a number now on pace to top two million this fiscal year for the first time ever.

Back in Washington today, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens decried the moving of migrants for political purposes.

Domingo Garcia, President, League of United Latin American Citizens: Certain governors are using these families and these refugees for political stunts. It's deplorable and it's really inhumane to treat people like that.

Amna Nawaz:

For more on all of this, I'm joined by Theresa Cardinal Brown. She is the director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Theresa, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

We are on track, as we just said there, to top two million border apprehensions at the U.S. Southern border. We should mention that's not two million people. That's the number of apprehensions. The recidivism remains very high. But that number will be the highest it's ever been. What should we understand about what's driving those numbers up?

Theresa Cardinal Brown, Bipartisan Policy Center:

Well, I think the first thing to understand is that the two million people who are arriving now are not the same types of people, if you will, that we saw the last time we had more than a million-and-a-half encounters, like in 2000 or in the late 1980s.

For most of our time that we have been enforcing immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, 90-plus percent of everybody that Border Patrol encountered were Mexican, usually adult single Mexican males who were trying to sneak in the country to work. And that meant that we could fairly quickly and rapidly return them back to Mexico.

But now we're seeing people coming from all around the world, an increasing number of from Central and South America, including from countries that we don't have good diplomatic relationships with, like Venezuela or Cuba or Nicaragua. So, even if we were able to send them back to their countries, those countries won't take them back.

Those — that presents a much bigger challenge for our border management strategies. We can't send people back to Mexico that aren't Mexican if Mexico won't allow it. So they have a big say in who we can send back and who we have to take in and allow to proceed into the United States to pursue their cases before immigration court.

And what we're seeing right now is a large number, as you have seen on these buses to the cities, as well as the flights today to Martha's Vineyard, are Venezuelans. Venezuelans have been a large migration population, large refugee population in South America for the last decade. Peru has hosted six million Venezuelans for a much longer period of time with a much smaller population than we have in the United States.

But that's now making its way north. So this is some of the changing composition. And, again, many of these people are asking for asylum, which is their right once they arrive in the United States. And that's also a reason why we're not able to just turn them back away.

Amna Nawaz:

Theresa, as you know, so, Governors Abbott and Ducey of Texas and Arizona basically say their states bear the burden of those rising numbers. And that's how they justify busing people, moving them to other cities.

But what do we need to understand about that burden? As I understand it, there are some federal funds that do go to support those states to help house temporarily migrants as they arrive and to move them on to other cities. What should we know about that?

Theresa Cardinal Brown:

So, in the last several years, the FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been brought in to assist with the migrants that are arriving in those counties and locations along the U.S.-Mexico border.

And they do have grants that are available to localities to assist with shelter and food for the migrants that are arriving. But I think it's also important to understand that almost none of those migrants intend to or, in fact, are staying in those communities. Those communities are pass-throughs.

So, yes, for the time period that they're — after the migrants arrive, they are a burden, if you will, on those local communities. But they have been doing this now for six years. So they have organizations in place. They have communications with the local Border Patrol when migrants are going to be released. They work with the nonprofit organizations and religious organizations that run the shelter systems down there.

The state and local governments provide medical support and screening for many of these people. So they have a process in place that allows those migrants to try to move on to the other places in the country that they are already moving to. That's not to say that it hasn't been a burden, only to say that those localities have now been dealing with it long enough that they have processes in place.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, when you look at the places that are now trying to set up that infrastructure — we spoke to people here in D.C., also in New York and in Chicago — they don't have that kind of infrastructure to receive folks.

But I have heard from some of them here in D.C., also from NGOs along the border that the work to support these arriving populations can be spread to different parts of the country, that some of them do believe other cities should be stepping up. Is there validity to that argument?

Theresa Cardinal Brown:

I think there is.

And, as I mentioned, the migrants are moving to other parts of the country. So there are other cities in the country that are receiving them at the end of their journey as they await their decision in immigration court. I think the issue for cities like New York and Washington, D.C., and Chicago is not that there aren't resources available. These are large cities that have been receiving immigrants for — in New York City, centuries.

But they were not prepared for the immediate arrival and influx. And so, as they get things set up, as they mobilize the resources available to them, yes, they can do more.

The issue, I think, is one of, what's the equitable way to manage what's happening at the border? Certainly, I do think the federal government could and should do more in those communities, rather than just releasing migrants to make their own way. This is a federal problem. The federal government can think about other ways to receive migrants and manage their cases as they make their way through courts.

But we haven't seen, frankly, any of the administrations do that so far.

Amna Nawaz:

And we should always point out that fixing immigration and the entire system would take Congress to act. And we haven't seen meaningful reform in over three decades.

Theresa Cardinal Brown from the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., thank you for joining us.

Theresa Cardinal Brown:

You're welcome.