El Magonista Newsletter | Vol. 11, No. 12 | April 7, 2023

Permanently moving to the U.S. was once as easy as getting on a ship or strolling across a border. 

Today, most lawful means of entering the country take years because of overwhelmed immigration agencies, rising levels of global migration and a limit on the number of certain visas, all of which have culminated in a massive backlog of people trying to get to the U.S.

Around 9 million people are awaiting green cards, and those wait times have skyrocketed from just a few months to years, possibly decades, according to the Cato Institute and other researchers.
In 1991, only 3% of preference immigrants, or those seeking visas through family members already in the U.S., had to wait more than 10 years. By 2018, 27% of applicants experienced that wait time.
What the legal immigration system looks like now

The U.S. hasn't increased the number of certain visas it grants each year since 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed an immigration bill that set quotas based on the country's population and labor and economic needs at the time. 

Since then, parts of Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and the Middle East have seen economic and political turmoil, forcing millions to flee to the U.S. and Europe.
Agencies have become overwhelmed. The U.S. immigration system has a backlog of more than one million cases.
The system for applying to enter the U.S. is also convoluted and difficult to navigate, advocates say. There are three major categories for visas: family-based; employment-based and diversity, although the government only allows 50,000 visas for the latter — and millions of people apply each year.
There are also routes that allow people to temporarily live and and work in the U.S.
How past leaders have tackled immigration

Every U.S. president in recent history has stepped up enforcement of immigration laws and escalated deportations — but none has been able to successfully overhaul what politicians and advocates alike say is a broken immigration system. 

Democratic President Clinton authorized the construction of fortified border barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border and the expansion of the U.S. Border Patrol. Thousands of migrants seeking alternate routes died crossing through the scorching Arizona desert.
Republican George W. Bush tried to push comprehensive immigration reform but was blocked by House Republicans and Democrats. 
Immigration advocates dubbed President Barack Obama "deporter-in-chief" for his administration's policies on unauthorized migration, which advocates said were aggressive and resulted in families being separated.
The list of anti-immigrant measures introduced or implemented under President Trump is long, and President Biden has made his own moves to slow illegal migration.
What migrating to the U.S. looked like in the past

Before World War I, the U.S. didn't have its current visa system and effectively had open borders, David J. Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, tells Axios.

Europeans only had to board a ship to the U.S. since there was no American consulate to apply for a visa. They would be processed for entry at Ellis Island. 
The late University of Houston law professor Michael A. Olivas, an immigration law expert, repeated many times that prior to 1910 there was "no such thing as an undocumented immigrant."
Yes, but: The U.S. still prevented some migrants from entering the country or discriminated against them during waves of public anti-immigrant sentiment... READ MORE

Data shows the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy increased the number of citizens with jobs and pulled people out of unemployment.

Newswise — A new study from the University of Delaware refutes a long-held talking point: the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy does not seem to have a negative impact on jobs or income. 

Emily Battaglia, an assistant professor of economics at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, discovered in her research on data from 2005 to 2018 that the policy better known as DACA does not seem to have a negative impact on jobs or income. The policy might even have improved the economic climate for some people. Her paper was published in the Journal of Urban Economics.

The DACA immigration policy was put in place by President Barack Obama in 2012. His executive order allowed certain people brought to the country illegally as children to apply for protection from deportation and get legal working status. (It’s not the same as the proposed DREAM Act, which also deals with immigrants in similar circumstances. The DREAM Act was an effort to address the problem legislatively that began in 2001 and never became law.) 

Obama’s move was an effort to take some kind of action despite the lack of partisan consensus. 

“The president was facing growing pressure from Latino leaders and Democrats who warned that because of his harsh immigration enforcement, his support was lagging among Latinos who could be crucial voters in his race for re-election,” the New York Times reported in its coverage at the time.  

In the years since, one criticism of DACA has been that it could cost native-born Americans jobs. Battaglia notes in her paper that Republicans sent a letter to Obama in 2012 expressing just that concern, worried that it was poor timing because of struggles with the economy. 

This criticism was one of the rationales for President Donald Trump to overturn the order in 2017. At least he tried to. It was the beginning of a court battle that continues until now, with a Texas judge ruling in 2021 that Obama had overstepped his authority... READ MORE

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico —  They came to offer a serenade for Joel Alexander Leal Peña, born 21 years ago. 

“¡Tus amigos llegamos aquí!” sang some three dozen people, clustered in the shadow of metal bars fronting a government building in this border city. “All your friends have arrived here!” 

They held up cellphones to share the moment with loved ones a continent away as they repeated the words of a spirited South American birthday ballad. “We want you to be filled with happiness!”

Some had tears in their eyes.

He and at least 38 others perished in a fire Monday at an immigration detention center just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Now the bunker-like government building formed a haunting backdrop for the performance — both birthday observance and farewell.

All the dead and the dozens injured were natives of Central and South America, including at least seven Venezuelans. The fatality ledger so far also lists 18 from Guatemala, seven from El Salvador, six from Honduras and one from Colombia. Authorities said they all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. 

They were among the thousands of migrants marooned here and in other Mexican border towns hoping for a chance to enter the United States.

With migration a politically charged issue north of the border, U.S. leaders have endeavored to offshore to Mexico the task of keeping migrants out. But this latest tragedy again dramatized for many how Mexico is ill-equipped to handle the influx of U.S.-bound migrants transiting the country.

“We’ve become the gatekeepers for the United States,” said Coni Gutiérrez, a longtime immigration activist here. “But Mexico isn’t prepared to be the guard dogs for any country.”

It’s still not publicly known if any of the victims of the fire had been sent back to Mexico from the United States under Title 42, a public health measure invoked during the pandemic that allows U.S. officials to expel migrants expeditiously without giving them a chance to file for political asylum or other potential relief.

Mexican authorities have labeled the deaths as homicides. Leaked security footage showed staff members at the facility hastening away as smoke and flames gathered and prisoners remained trapped behind bars. 

Officials have filed homicide charges against three federal immigration agents, a private security guard, and a Venezuelan detainee — who, prosecutors allege, helped start the fire by setting a mattress ablaze during a protest about a lack of drinking water, food and other staples at the facility. Authorities expect more arrests. 

The calamity on the border has stunned Mexico, a nation that has long sent multitudes of its own into the United States. 

“I have to confess, this has pained me deeply. It has damaged me,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday. “It broke my soul."
READ MORE

Trump and his MAGAfied Republican Party are pushing plans for military action against drug cartels in Mexico — with or without the Mexican government's consent.

DONALD TRUMP IS asking for a plan to wage war in Mexico, and the Republican Party is eager to give it to him.

As he campaigns for a second White House term, Trump has been asking policy advisers for a range of military options aimed at taking on Mexican drug cartels, including strikes that are not sanctioned by Mexico’s government, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

“‘Attacking Mexico,’ or whatever you’d like to call it, is something that President Trump has said he wants ‘battle plans’ drawn for,” says one of the sources. “He’s complained about missed opportunities of his first term, and there are a lot of people around him who want fewer missed opportunities in a second Trump presidency.”

Trump lieutenants have briefed him on several options that include unilateral military strikes and troop deployments on a sovereign U.S. partner and neighbor, the sources say. One such proposal that Trump has been briefed on this year is an October white paper from the Center for Renewing America, an increasingly influential think tank staffed largely by Trumpist wonks, MAGA loyalists, and veterans of his administration.

The policy paper — titled “It’s Time to Wage War on Transnational Drug Cartels” — outlines possible justifications and procedures for the next Republican commander-in-chief to “formally” declare “war against the cartels,” in response to “the mounting bodies of dead Americans from fentanyl poisonings.”

In a nod to Mexico’s status as a sovereign nation, the paper calls on the U.S. to “conduct specific military operations to destroy the cartels and enlist the Mexican government in joint operations to target cartel-networked infrastructure, including affiliated factions and enablers with direct action.”

However, that “enlistment” of the Mexican government comes with a massive caveat: “It is vital that Mexico not be led to believe that they have veto power to prevent the US from taking the actions necessary to secure its borders and people,” the paper reads.

The document cautions about the “risks” of ongoing international wars, but it takes very little off the table in terms of military action. “The goal is to crush cartel networks with full military force in as rapid a fashion as possible. This means expanding the role beyond Special Forces, targeted strikes, and intelligence operations to include elements of the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard,” it recommends, in a chapter presumptuously labeled, “Tier Four: Victory Phase.”

It’s unclear if Trump would be willing to go as far as the CRA paper advocates, but he has been especially keen on sending Special Forces to Mexico and has been talking up the idea for months... READ MORE

El siniestro confirma que los derechos humanos más violados en México son los de los solicitantes de refugio embotellados en las fronteras o expulsados por Estados Unidos, y que se requiere una política migratoria diametralmente opuesta a la actual, impuesta por los Estados Unidos, si México aspira a ser un ejemplo de “humanismo mexicano” y soberanía, y no de estado vasallo y violador.]

Por las declaraciones que hizo hoy [marzo 21] el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador en su réplica al reporte estadounidense sobre derechos humanos en México, impresiona que AMLO no deja de ser fiel aliado de Donald Trump, al que ahora defiende ante los múltiples cargos criminales que enfrenta, y por otro lado no ve la necesidad de mencionar las flagrantes violaciones a los derechos humanos de los migrantes y diásporas mexicanos y latinoamericanos en Estados Unidos. Por otro lado, el dizque reporte completo evade analizar la masiva y sistemática violación de los derechos humanos de los migrantes en México, en sincronía con las políticas migratorias de contención de Estados Unidos.

A estas alturas ya no se puede pretender que las crueles e inhumanas políticas de criminalización, contención, y expulsión de migrantes en ambos países se justifican por “razones de estado” – ya sea la “seguridad nacional” de Estados Unidos, cuando en realidad son producto de una ola de xenofobia y paranoia racial blanca, o la necesidad de llegar a “acuerdos” migratorios “humanitarios” en aras de proteger a los migrantes mismos o llevarla bien con el principal socio comercial de México, cuando en realidad México se ha vuelto un país guardián migratorio por amenazas e imposiciones, y sus relaciones económicas son cada vez más asimétricas y desventajosas para la mayoría de los mexicanos... LEER MAS

Generation Z seems like a paradox: far more open to diverse viewpoints and compromise than older Americans, but also in some ways more dogmatic.

Will young people extinguish the flames of political polarization or fan them? As their values clash with those of the oldest generations hoarding power, the fires of extremism crackle louder and expand.

It’s impossible to predict what 69 million Gen Zers will do. But it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that as the arsonist GOP elders double down, young people will be more inclined to burn things, too.

Still, there’s hope. Gen Zers can negotiate differences better than perhaps any prior generation; some call them Plurals because of their pluralist nature. They’re the most racially and ethnically diverse voters. They’re more likely to identify as LGBTQ: 20% of them, compared with 11% of millennials and only 3% among older people. They’re averse to binaries, be it man-vs.-woman or citizen-vs.-illegal. A quarter are Latinx. They’re less likely to be immigrants than millennials, but more likely to be children of immigrants — cross-border in culture and identity.

They’re digital natives, born between 1997 and 2012, when surfing the Web was already mainstream. They prefer TikTok to TV. Liberal-vs.-conservative cable news pundits are a bore next to social media’s multiverse of raw commentary. Social media’s negative impact has been greater on this group than any other. Depression, anxiety and feelings of loneliness — made worse by the pandemic — are big challenges. Yet many Gen Zers are demonstrating a remarkable resilience, channeling their sense of unease into advocacy for the most vulnerable.

They share millennials’ progressive ideas on social issues, but are more likely to support radical policies, such as reparations for descendants of enslaved people. They’re more likely to believe the government should do more to help people. They believe in advocating for the Other, except when the Other is a bully... READ MORE

FINABIEN, before known as TELECOMM, has more than hundred years of experience sending and receiving international remittances for the benefit of migrant families who send money to Mexico from countries like the USA and Canada.

By way of a presidential decree, TELECOMM was transformed into FINABIEN on the 21st of October, 2022 – the institution in charge of facilitating the payment of international remittances on a broad scale for families living outside the country who send money back to Mexico. They will be able to use the wide coverage provided by our branch office network on the national level, because we reach locations nobody else reaches, mainly zones where there is no bank presence.

Besides providing financial and telecommunication services, we create conditions for the inclusion of the most vulnerable sectors of the population to reduce the financial and digital gap. 

The beneficiaries receive more Pesos for their Dollars. When picking up their money transfer in any of the 1,700 branch offices across the country, the recipients of remittances will notice that we do not charge any commission fee at all. Moreover, we do not force anyone to open an account and guarantee that beneficiaries will not receive less money due to non-transparent practices.

FINABIEN works under total transparency, because through the remittance service, it is possible to timely inform the family about the exact amount of money to be picked up in Pesos and the current exchange rate applied by the enterprise during the money transfer.

Once the transfer is made in the USA, people will be able to receive their money in a matter of minutes in a safe and reliable way. In addition, they will be able to get a FINABIEN card as an option to save money in the card and not necessarily carry the whole amount and to do some shopping inside and outside the country or online in a safe way. We offer a chip that requires a security number and customer services 24 hours year-round... READ MORE

Experience the power of transformation and resilience through the story of Jose Morales, a DACA recipient turned successful gym owner and boxing coach. From dishwasher to CEO, his journey to success will inspire and motivate you to chase your dreams no matter the obstacles.

Jose Morales is a triumphant and resilient individual who personifies the American Dream. Born in Mexico, he was brought to the United States at the tender age of 11 months, growing up as an American in every aspect but on paper. Despite being undocumented for most of his life, Jose never let that define him. He harnessed his emotions and channeled them into the sport of boxing, which became a source of solace and purpose for him.

However, Jose's dreams of competing on a national level were dashed when he was not considered a legal citizen. Nevertheless, he didn't let this setback deter him and instead, focused on becoming a top-notch trainer and coach. In 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was enacted, granting Jose a work permit and social security number, opening up new opportunities for him.

Jose went on to work in various jobs, but he never lost sight of his passion for boxing. In 2016, he was presented with the chance to take over a failing boxing gym, which he accepted despite the unfavorable location and the notion that boxing gyms wouldn't succeed in the area. With his tenacity, determination, and hard work, Jose transformed the gym into a thriving, tight-knit community of diverse members of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds. The Jose Morales Boxing Academy is more than just a gym; it's a family.

The Academy offers programs for both children and adults, catering to everyone from those seeking to get fit, box recreationally, or compete at amateur or professional levels. Jose and his team provide group lessons and one-on-one training, with the Warrior Program designed for competitive boxers to enhance their mental and physical abilities... READ MORE