Summer of 2017 has seen a 60 percent rise in illegal border crossing apprehensions after a 17-year record low. Typically, summers don’t see as many migrants entering the United States, but recent talks of amnesty and Donald Trump’s border wall plan have pushed people to migrate as soon as possible.
Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that started during Obama’s presidency but said Congress would need to approve a policy to keep 800,000 DREAMers in the country. He met with Senator Schumer and Representative Pelosi from the Democratic party to agree on a deal.
The news sparked a wave of immigrants flowing into the country, with 5,500 more in August than the 25,025 in July. Unaccompanied minors crossing the border illegally picked up by CBP also went up to 2,994 in August from 2,481 in July.
Democrats and Republicans have recently joined forces to come up with a plan that will protect DACA recipients from deportation. Their plan would also allow the DREAMers to sponsor family members, giving over two million undocumented immigrants the opportunity to work legally in the United States.
Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pushed Congress to approve the DREAM Act days after Trump announced the end of DACA. They urged the Senate and the House of Representatives to agree on this plan before the end of the month, which won’t seem to occur at this pace.
The latest bill, introduced by Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), James Lankford (Okla.), and Thom Tillis (N.C.), is the Succeed Act. This bill would grant conditional permanent residency to nearly one million young undocumented people.
An eligible individual would need to spend ten years in the country without any legal problems before applying to become a citizen. In no less than 15 years from the start of the amnesty, a DREAMer qualifies for a green card and can then sponsor family members or a spouse.
Historically, illegal immigration surges when talks of amnesty are international news. Central Americans make up most of the new arrivals from this past summer since they can get a refugee status if they prove that going back to their country is dangerous.
This increase in illegal immigration the past couple of months is putting more pressure on Trump to deliver his promise of building a wall. Unfortunately, Congress has yet to find an efficient way of protecting the borders while protecting undocumented immigrants already in the country.