The End of Title 42 and Increased Militarization of the Border

May 7, 2023

Guest blogger: Duun O’Hara, Migration Studies Masters Student, University of San Francisco:

With Title 42 coming to end this week, terrible news is reported from the Biden administration. Biden has sent 1,500 soldiers to the southern border to try and stop the “migrant surge” in border states for 90 days.

Title 42 allowed immigration authorities to turn back any asylum seekers at the border. The Biden administration along with US immigration officials are scared that with this ending, it will be a situation where tens of thousands of immigrants seeking asylum will “storm” the border.

The US response as always deploys the military along the border instead of responding to the crisis at hand. Even as we further militarize the border, more officers will not stop immigrants from coming or seeking asylum. This is yet another example of how the Biden administration has failed the immigration system and continues to fund the war in the southwest United States.

If Border Patrol and ICE were not funded enough, Biden ironically has decided to send more “man power” to “defend the border.” More soldiers at the border will not stop people from coming. It will only exacerbate the problems at the US-Mexico border resulting in more deaths.

In true American fashion, the US is also opening new “processing centers” in Colombia and Guatemala. Which is code word for more detention centers to further detain families and children. If the Ciudad Juarez tragedy was not enough, the Biden administration’s only solutions seem to consist of building more systems to incarcerate Black, Indigenous people of color.

Far too many times, the US, including various presidential administrations, respond to “the mass influx” of migrants as an issue stemming outside of the US, rather than a systemic problem created by the imperial and colonial past of the US. Instead of treating asylum seekers as people, the US does what it knows best: dehumanize and incarcerate BIPOC.

More troops being sent to the US-Mexico border will only further the violence at the southwest border. Instead of allowing thousands of migrants to seek asylum (their inherent rights in the US), the US is asking other countries like Mexico, to accept non-Mexicans. When will the US take responsibility for the situation at the border, and stop implementing more force? Or maybe instead provide more resources and programs that address the problem, rather make it worse?

Troops being sent to the southwest border present more problems than solutions. Seeing the situation at the border first hand, as recently as February 2023, it also makes me concerned for people who live along the border in border cities who must try to continue their daily lives while the militarization of the border only gets worse by the day. Above all, safety must be guaranteed to people trying to work and provide for their families in these border cities.

But as we know, with increase in militarization, the increase in innocent deaths and incarcerations of more people of color. This decision made by President Biden will horrifically cost many innocent lives seeking a better life.

On a global scale, this decision affects more than just US immigration policies, but also it impacts other Western countries following the US and implementing similar militaristic border measures along their borders.