Ali Noorani: More Border Security Won't Solve The Migrant Crisis

Border Military — FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, file photo, members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border, in Laredo, Texas. The Pentagon said Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, it will send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of concertina wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection.

Arjun Singh is a producer for Boston Public Radio. A California native, Arjun moved to Boston to study international relations at Boston University. Prior to working at WGBH, Arjun worked at a tech company and for a political campaign.

March 28, 2019

Updated March 29, 2019

In the midst of Congress’ feud with President Trump over funding for a border wall on the US-Mexico border, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told reporters yesterday that an influx of migrants from Central America has reached a “breaking point.” In an effort to ameliorate the situation, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen brokered an agreement with the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to deter international crime and curb “irregular migration.”

Immigration experts like Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, however, don’t expect the agreement to alleviate things. For Noorani, the problem lies in the underlying philosophy the Trump administration has when crafting immigration policy.

“Since 2014 we have seen from [Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras] a steady movement of people fleeing poverty and violence, and those are the facts on the ground,” Noorani said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Thursday. “The problem is the administration’s approach ... has been trying to enforce [their] way out of this challenge. That clearly is not working.”

The influx of migrants from Central America, and particularly from the Northern Triangle — Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — is attributed to political instability and violence in those nations. As more migrants continue to cross the border, American politicians from both parties have advocated for stronger border security, but Noorani says this approach won’t solve the problem.

“We need to be able to get foreign direct investment to Central America. We need to be able to get other resources there,” Noorani said. “If you grow up in Honduras, and Honduras is your country, you don’t want to leave. People are having to leave. So, let’s change that dynamic.”

On Tuesday, Defense Department officials announced they would allocate $1 billion of their own budget toward border security in reaction to the increase of migrants from Central America. The decision was immediately critiqued by lawmakers who said the Pentagon didn’t have the authority to “reprogram” funding, and would require the approval of Congress.

“We have bipartisan support for the fact that our military budget should not be cannibalized for our border security needs,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) told NPR.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan defended the decision and tried to assure lawmakers that using resources to erect the border wall would not impact national security, but House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) denied the request in a letter to Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist.

According to Noorani, the Pentagon’s decision is a good example of the misaligned priorities in American immigration policy. In addition to limiting aid to the Northern Triangle nations, Noorani said the U.S. has wasted far too much money on policies like indefinite detention and border fencing.

“This is the reality, folks, and we can either be hysterical about it or we can say, ‘Ok, if people are at the border lets make sure that we have asylum officers in place so that they are processing claims.' ... We shouldn’t be detaining families indefinitely,” Noorani said. “Imagine if instead of spending a billion dollars on a wall, [we] invest a billion dollars into the economy of Honduras. That begins to solve the problem at its root, which [is] what’s missing here.”