Addressing The Surge of Migrants on The Southern Border And The U.S’ Failed Efforts to Fix it
By Matthew Walsh ’26
8,000 migrants cross the United States – Mexico border every day. That number is expected to account for three million individuals by the end of 2023. As floods of migrants seek refuge from corruption and destabilized economies, many U.S. cities and states lack the resources to support them. Even states like New York and Chicago, which have been very open about supporting asylum-seeking immigrants, are now taking a step back. Mayor Eric Adams of New York just recently declared a state of emergency in New York, as shelters are close to 100% full even with the addition of 42 private hotels to house the new arrivals. Mayor Adams is also seeking federal aid as New York is expecting to spend upwards of $1 billion by the end of this year toward housing the immigrants. Nevertheless, while cities across America are becoming overwhelmed, the answer isn’t to completely close down the border to refugee immigrants—who are fleeing extreme poverty and the effects of climate change on agriculture and food insecurity— but instead to take action to better regulate and organize the border.
The recent surge of unregulated immigration on the southern border can be attributed in part to the Biden Administration’s lack of focus and delays in responding to this humanitarian crisis. The White House has only taken steps to acknowledge the severity of the problem in the past few months. On Thursday, October 5th, the Biden administration announced their plans to build 20 miles of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas border. However, this decision is long overdue and may not even be able to address the problem. In fact, the funding for this section of the border wall was approved by Congress back in 2019, but instead of going forward with construction several years ago, the Biden Administration has instead focused on trying to repeal it with hopes of freeing up the funds for potential use elsewhere. The importance of this section of the wall is evident given that in 2023 alone, more than 245,000 migrants have been detained in the U.S. – Rio Grande Valley border. The Biden administration’s belated efforts to finally take action have come far too late, as the area has become a hot spot for smugglers who use the river’s dense brush to smuggle immigrants. They do so without care for the immigrants, who are often found dehydrated and with other health issues. Instead of waiting this long to build this section of border wall, the Biden administration could have taken earlier action by funding shelters on the border for immigrants and/or sending more border patrol officers and aides to help better regulate and treat incoming immigrants.
The increase of unregulated immigrants across the southern border can also be attributed to the administration’s unrealistic policies. For instance, the administration created a mobile app called the Customs and Border Protection One (CBP One) app, believing it could help solve the border crisis. The Biden administration’s CBP One app was designed to allow asylum-seeking migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border an opportunity to schedule an appointment with border control. In theory, this app should be a success, conceivably being able to help each and every immigrant on the Southern border with their journey into the U.S.; however, that was not the case. On the app’s launch day, more than 62,000 migrants applied for a meeting with border officials, but only 800 spots were available. While an estimated 1,500 migrants now enter the U.S. every day by using this app, that minuscule number isn’t even a quarter of the 8,000 undocumented migrants that cross the U.S. border daily.
In conclusion, the surge of desperate migrants on the southern border has caused shelters across America to continue to fill up day by day and has resulted in the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars. The solution for this dilemma isn’t for the U.S. to completely shut its doors on the southern border but instead to provide better-regulated and more organized opportunities for them to enter the country legally. While the Biden administration isn’t solely at fault for this situation, its failure to take timely and viable action has caused confusion and conflict for thousands of asylum-seeking immigrants and millions of U.S. citizens who must live in the chaos on the U.S. – Mexico border.