How to fix inhumane and broken immigration policies

An open letter to our U.S. representatives and officials:

We are former public school teachers residing in Kalispell. For the last five winters we have come to the border of Arizona and Mexico to help teach migrant children who do not have the opportunity to go to school. We work primarily with families (mostly single moms) who have struggled through a horrendous journey fleeing violence at their historical homes.  

When they reach the U.S. border, they find it difficult, if not impossible, to cross through a legal port of entry. We also encounter families who made the same horrendous journey because they simply could not provide for their families in their home countries. The drought has made farming untenable, and the economies of struggling countries have not rebounded after the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is difficult for these families to cross through legal ports of entry. Border Patrol closes legal ports, such as Lukeville and Eagle Pass, randomly and without warning. 

The CBP1 app helps only those who have access to cellphones. Even for those lucky enough to get hold of a cellphone, the appointments are quickly gone and they must wait for another round for their credible fear appointment. 

Each legal entry port seems to have their own procedures and migrants confusedly try to move from legal entry to legal entry. The port in Nogales, Arizona for instance randomly allows a few migrants without CBP1 appointments to line up to obtain an appointment with a U.S. immigration official. 

It is rumored that those controlling who can line up and in what order demand as much as $1,000 to secure a place in this line. Those lucky enough to secure a place in line might wait hours/days to be granted an appointment and possible entry. And that is only the beginning of their hope to receive asylum.  The backlog for asylum applications is now at 1.8 million.

Those migrants waiting across the border in Mexico are very vulnerable and cartels rule. Most stay huddled in shelters provided by NGOS such as Voices from the Border, Kino Border Initiative, Casa de Misericordia. Many find meager shelter in abandoned bus stations, in cemeteries and, until it was outlawed, on the county dump. 

And they wait interminably, unable to return to the dangers of their home country, insecure in Mexico and not welcome in the U.S. 

Ironically, we are needing the help of these young and eager employees. In Montana alone, where the unemployment rate is at an all-time low of 3%, there are help wanted signs in shops, restaurants, hotels, construction and health care.

From our vantage point we see two simple solutions to this very complex and politicized issue.

1. We need more legal avenues of entry for those who wish to work; they will either settle and build a safe home or their families or stay for a few months to raise funds to bring home to help with local economy and farming. We have had such programs in the past and we should resurrect them. If one issue might be that we fear workers will not return to their homes after allotted times, many have indicated they would gladly wear a tracking bracelet if that meant they could work for a few months to provide for their families at home.

2. There is an urgent need to train and hire more (many more) adjudicators at each legal port of entry. Many migrants seeking asylum are desperate to get out of dangerous border towns and provide safety for their families. Some who seek asylum confuse it with wanting a work permit and will not be granted asylum. A few might have criminal records and must be barred from entry. 

Many desperate people unable to enter our country legally resort to entering wherever they can, crossing treacherous desert and merciless rivers. Many have lost their lives (more than 4,000 in the Arizona desert alone since 2000). In addition, there is no way of vetting those who do not enter through a legal port of entry. More legal avenues of entry and more adjudicators at the border would eliminate both this tragedy and this dilemma.

We have a term in science which we taught to our students as we prowled the Montana forests and streams to verify what computer images were creating. It is called ground truthing (information provided by extended direct observation).

We trust that you will consider our direct views as you attempt to remedy our current inhumane and malfunctioning immigration policies.

Frank and Linda de Kort live in Kalispell.