Doris Meissner Clarifies Border Compromise Discussions
Today, I had the good fortune to attend the Zolberg Institute program US Immigration Policy & the Southwest Border. Big ups to immprof T. Alexander Aleinikoff (The New School) for putting the program together.
One of the speakers was Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. She offered a very clear explanation of what our U.S. Senators are discussing in terms of efforts to change things at the U.S. border in exchange for funding to the Ukraine.
In short, Meissner said negotiations are focused on:
- Changing the standard applied to screening migrants for credible fear. She said they were looking at applying a standard like the one currently in place for migrants not using CBP One. (Meissner didn’t got into what the standard is, but that’s where the process starts with a presumption against asylum rebuttable by “exceptionally compelling circumstances.” See, e.g. this briefing.)
- Changes to parole. There is a tension between the presidential desire to protect parole authority, which has been important to the admission of Afghans and Ukrainians, and an opposing desire for some sort of limit on the process. That limit might be consultation, numerical, categorical. It’s unclear.
- Potentially, it could include the Afghan Adjustment Act.
Meissner also noted that Trump does not favor the Senate reaching a compromise on border issues, which he’d like to keep front and center for his (inevitable) campaign. She herself doesn’t see any agreement as likely to ultimately happen.
I was so grateful for this explanation. I’ve found mainstream news outlets more frustrating than usual on this issue. They keep reporting that senators are in negotiations but the content of their talks has been reported as being about “immigration” and “the border.” So helpful!
Anyhoo. Today’s webinar will ultimately make it online to the Zolberg site. I can’t recommend it enough. Other speakers provided equally compelling information:
- Miriam Jordan, NYT correspondent, talked about realities that she’s seen on the ground at the border and in U.S. cities affected by the uptick in migration.
- Molly Schaeffer from NYC Mayor Adams’ office, talked about the realities on the ground in NYC.
- Professor Alexandra Délano Alonso (The New School) offered important insights about what is going on in Mexico w/r/t regional migration.
-KitJ