Mayors, feds bemoan immigration ‘paralysis’

Early on a snowy morning in the nation’s capital, mayors from across the country convened to discuss the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

As below zero wind chills swept Chicago, its mayor, Democrat Brandon Johnson, expressed frustration with the influx of buses from Texas, which have so far dropped off around 15,000 immigrants in the city. 

Just the day before, Johnson had announced he would not evict migrants from city shelters amid a snowstorm and freezing temperatures, suspending for the second time a 60-day shelter stay for migrants that was set to go into effect.

Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, lamented his city’s inability to help as many people as he’d like, especially neighboring cities struggling to feed and house migrants, citing space, housing and social services constraints.

Ron Nirenberg, the mayor of San Antonio and an independent, talked about the impact the crisis was having on people’s perceptions of immigrants. 

The “unique American legislative paralysis” that has prevented Congress from passing meaningful immigration reform or even providing short-term help to communities on the southern border, he said, has led to “corrosive, anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric that we know is undermining everything about this country, including our democracy.”

And Tom Perez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, worried about the ability of the federal government to respond. The bipartisan “dance partners” that came together in Congress in 1996 to pass immigration reform are “a little more elusive right now,” he said.

The frustration among the nation’s mayors and members of the Biden administration was palpable at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting in Washington, D.C., last week. Leaders chafed at Congress’ inability to legislate solutions and help ease the strain on the nation’s cities. Mayors want help for border communities and other impacted areas that are struggling to process the tremendous numbers of immigrants—legal and illegal—that enter.

“We are in the middle of a boat with a leak,” Nirenberg said during the packed panel discussion on immigration. “We would like to stop the leak, but in the meantime, we need some pails to keep from sinking.”

Mayors have been strong in their calls for Congress to act on immigration, not only to pass the kind of comprehensive reform that last happened in 1996, but also to pass short-term legislation that would allow the hiring of more U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrol officers, immigration judges and other support staff.

A bipartisan group of 139 mayors sent a letter to Congress in November asking for $1.4 billion to support local governments that see an influx of migrants and asylum-seekers. Meanwhile, some governors have responded by deploying their National Guard troops, in a move some deride as politically motivated.

And while bipartisan negotiations are underway in the U.S. Senate on additional resources for the southern border, months after President Joe Biden requested $1.4 billion in additional funding, the issue has been dogged by partisanship in the House. Republicans in the chamber have embarked on impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and appear strongly opposed to the Senate’s proposed bill.

The legislative quagmire leaves mayors among those caught in the middle, alongside federal agents whose hands are tied by a lack of resources and outdated laws. Joel Martinez, acting deputy chief at U.S. Border Patrol, said agents are faced with “heartbreaking” situations every day as they try to help as many people as they can who are desperate for a better life.

“What we don't see is the emotional impact that it has on them day in, day out,” agreed Michael Fox, the acting executive director for the Operations Directorate in U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations. “They do yeoman's work down there processing people, getting people between ports of entry, but there's an emotional toll from that.”

Mayors at the event assailed political leaders like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and House Republicans for playing politics with people’s lives. While the House starts impeachment proceedings, Abbott has loaded more than 100,000 migrants onto buses destined for Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia under the Texas’ Operation Lone Star program. 

“We are holding the line for Congress and for this country, managing the daily humanitarian crisis,” said Tuscon, Arizona, Mayor Regina Romero. “The cities are not responsible for the needed solution that will resolve this issue, which is comprehensive immigration reform.”

But federal officials have called for close collaboration with states and cities to try and alleviate the worst of the suffering. In a speech Thursday at the winter meeting, Mayorkas offered little insight into the negotiations and said only that the need for collaboration is “no more evident than in our efforts to tackle the significant challenges at our southern border with the level of migrant encounters.”

Perez, the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, urged city leaders to stay strong, even as others look to “weaponize the issue” of immigration, and said mayors should work to educate their congressional delegations on the issue and the effect it has on their cities. “We’re playing way too much defense on this,” he said.

Fox of U.S. Customs and Border Protection warned that the ongoing crisis could also affect the federal government’s ability to hire and train enough agents, judges and other support staff.

“Looking at the situation we're in with the lack of immigration reform, does that wean people from wanting to be in government service? Does it push them away?” he said in an interview after the panel. “People wanted to come in and have input and […] be a part of the solution. But if there's no solutions being made, is that enticing to the new-generation workforce that may be coming towards us?”

Acknowledging that the crisis may seem intractable at times, Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles, a Republican, said, “On this topic, if you're not a little depressed and very pessimistic, then you're just not paying attention.”