One Big Reason Migrants Are Coming in Droves
They Believe They Can Stay
Seeking asylum has become the surest way for migrants to stay in the U.S. The underfunded immigration system can’t keep up, so cases languish for years.
For decades, single young men, mainly from Mexico and later Central America, did their best to sneak past U.S. border agents to reach Los Angeles, Atlanta and other places hungry for their labor. Today, people from around the globe are streaming across the southern border, most of them just as eager to work. But rather than trying to elude U.S. authorities, the overwhelming majority of migrants seek out border agents, sometimes waiting hours or days in makeshift encampments, to surrender.
Being hustled into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle and taken to a processing facility is hardly a setback. In fact, it is a crucial step toward being able to apply for asylum — now the surest way for migrants to stay in the United States, even if few will ultimately win their cases.
We are living in an era of mass migration — fueled by conflict, climate change, poverty and political repression and encouraged by the proliferation of TikTok and YouTube videos chronicling migrants’ journeys to the United States. Some six million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country, the largest population displacement in Latin America’s modern history. Migrants from Africa, Asia and South America are mortgaging their family land, selling their cars or borrowing money from loan sharks to embark on long, often treacherous journeys to reach the United States.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/us/us-immigration-asylum-border.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SE0.n4rf.OKymztLP_2b6&bgrp=g&smid=url-share
Pretty good, gifted article. GOP using it for political advantage, naturally.
