In October 2016, nearly 7,500 asylum seekers from Haiti and Cuba crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States. Just 6 did so illegally. Not 6 percent: six total individuals, meaning that 99.9 percent of all crossings from these two countries happened legally through lawful ports of entry. In October 2021, nearly 7,000 crossed, and 99.7 percent did so illegally. Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden all played a role in making this unbelievable (and tragic) turnaround possible: they created illegal immigration where none had existed, and the current administration could just as easily make it disappear.
Cuban and Haitian Legal Migration Through Mexico
For years, the United States had allowed immigrants from Cuba and Haiti to enter legally, so illegal immigration was unnecessary. Starting in the 1990s, the United States had a policy known as “wet foot, dry foot,” which authorized the return of Cubans only if they were caught at sea. If they made it to U.S. soil, they could obtain entry and, after 1 year, adjust to legal permanent residence through the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. Following the Castro regime’s liberalization of rules that had restricted travel out of Cuba in 2013, more Cubans began to travel to Mexico and then to the U.S. border to request asylum.
Under wet foot, dry foot, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at U.S.-Mexico land crossing points granted Cubans “parole”—a discretionary legal status—and let them into the country legally. This process consisted of verifying the Cuban passport, fingerprinting, checking government databases, and issuing a parole document. The CBP field manual provided that Cuban asylum seekers “may be paroled directly from the port of entry” except for those who “pose a criminal or terrorist threat.” The procedure lasted 45 minutes to an hour with multiple Cubans being processed simultaneously. After being released, Cubans could catch a bus to their final destination with no need for further government involvement.
Haitians followed a similar path. After the 2010 earthquake, the Obama administration suspended removals of Haitians who had no criminal records. Since they could not be removed anyway, CBP at southwest ports of entry adopted a policy of generally granting parole to Haitian asylum seekers like they did for Cubans. About 70 percent were released there at the port, while most of the rest were released after being transferred to detention facilities after requesting asylum. Overall, this was a more time-intensive process than it was for Cubans, but the end result was similar. Haitians could come through Mexico, request asylum, and obtain release. As a result, Haitian illegal crossings fell over 90 percent from 2009 to 2012.
Read the rest of this post →